Brown begins his beautifully constructed picture-book biography with young Sam’s dangerous escapade on the frozen Mississippi River. Focusing on childhood incidents that will later appear in Twain’s books, Brown cunningly recalls the opening event in his conclusion: “Bye and bye, he remembered his boyhood, the glad morning of his life. As if skating ice cakes on a frozen river, Sam skipped from memory to memory and wove together great tales. . . . ” Brown’s eloquent, old-fashioned language echoes Twain’s own words, also generously sprinkled throughout. “My literature attracted the town’s attention, but not its admiration,” Brown quotes. Like his subject, Brown also skips from incident to incident, telling just enough to hold the reader’s interest, and like Twain, he makes the reader think, with his handling of such incidents as young Sam’s response to slavery, and his friendship with the outcast Tom Blankenship (the model for Huck Finn). Lively watercolors deftly depict Clemens’s exuberant character and youthful shenanigans, while their subdued tones are nostalgic. Includes bibliography and author’s note. (Picture book/biography. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2003
ISBN: 0-618-17997-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2003
The creators of Crazy Horse’s Vision (2000) offer another inspiring American portrait, again focusing on their subject’s youth and extraordinary accomplishments. Dubbed Wa-tho-huck (“Bright Path”) by his Pottowatomie mother, Thorpe attended several Indian Schools, struggling with academics but finding his path in sports, and emerging as the 20th century’s most widely gifted—though only arguably “most dominant,” as Bruchac claims—athlete. Nelson switches to a less-stylized, mystical look for the illustrations, depicting Thorpe growing from lad to burly manhood, chasing down a jackrabbit, standing downcast at lonely or sad moments, dashing past rival runners or football players as he flashes a faint, restrained smile. Finished with a career recap, plus a discussion of the long effort to restore Thorpe’s confiscated Olympic medals, this doesn’t make the most comprehensive, or searching, profile—but young readers in need of a role model could hardly do better. (Picture book/biography. 8-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58430-166-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2004
Piven makes presidents, Walter Wick–style, from assemblages of small toys, jelly beans, plastic ears, cutlery, American flag pins, dismembered doll limbs, and other found objects, creating 16 caricatures that riff on Presidential foibles or backgrounds. The combative Andy Jackson’s nose, for instance, is a boxing glove; Jimmy Carter’s, a pair of peanuts; and the current Bush sports a hot dog (for his baseball connection) beneath broken-bun brows. Piven captions each head shot with a brief anecdote or Presidential bon mot. Capped by a complete gallery of thumbnail-sized official portraits, this helps to put human faces on many of our Chief Executives, though it’s neither as richly detailed, nor as politically balanced, as Judith St. George’s So You Want to Be President!, illustrated with Caldecott-winning art by David Small (2000). (source list) (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-86880-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2004
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