Better for the American public than KINGS AND QUEENS, and just as good from every other angle. Famous historical characters.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1933
ISBN: 978-0-7123-5851-4
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1933
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An inclusive and inspiring look at significant aspects of women’s history.
From affirmation to zeal, and from Maya Angelou to Zora Neale Hurston—people and principles that made change.
Similar in format to the creators’ The ABCs of Black History (2020), this book celebrates many of the influential figures and important ideals crucial to women’s history over the past 70 years. Rhymes and rhythm move readers energetically through the selected milestones and figures. If the beats and matching sounds are sometimes uneven, the message comes across loud and clear: Women have made essential contributions in every field, and you, reader, can do so, too. Most of the women cited in the text (and given expanded background information in the backmatter) are North Americans, with a few exceptions (Greta Thunberg, Wangari Maathai, Ada Lovelace, Malala Yousafzai). Among those highlighted are author Joan Didion, poet Naomi Shihab Nye, actor Anna May Wong, activist Angela Davis, scientist Katherine Johnson, activist Rosa Parks, athletes Venus and Serena Williams, and painter Frida Kahlo. These women share the stage with the important abstractions they embody, including courage, freedom, justice, knowledge, pride, persistence, resourcefulness, and solidarity. Jazzy, stylized illustrations depict characters diverse in skin color, ability, and more. A rainbow of hues and variations of composition and perspective keep the art fresh and eye-catching.
An inclusive and inspiring look at significant aspects of women’s history. (Informational picture book. 6-11)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781523523290
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing.
Both technique and imaginative impulse can be found in this useful selection of poems about the literary art.
Starting with the essentials of the English language, the letters of “Our Alphabet,” the collection moves through 21 other poems of different types, meters, and rhyme schemes. This anthology has clear classroom applications, but it will also be enjoyed by individual readers who can pore carefully over playful illustrations filled with diverse children, butterflies, flowers, books, and pieces of writing. Tackling various parts of the writing process, from “How To Begin” through “Revision Is” to “Final Edit,” the poems also touch on some reasons for writing, like “Thank You Notes” and “Writing About Reading.” Some of the poems are funny, as in the quirky, four-line “If I Were an Octopus”: “I’d grab eight pencils. / All identical. / I’d fill eight notebooks. / One per tentacle.” An amusing undersea scene dominated by a smiling, orangy octopus fills this double-page spread. Some of the poems are more focused (and less lyrical) than others, such as “Final Edit” with its ending stanzas: “I check once more to guarantee / all is flawless as can be. / Careless errors will discredit / my hard work. / That’s why I edit. / But I don’t like it. / There I said it.” At least the poet tries for a little humor in those final lines.
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68437-362-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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