Helen Keller’s inspiring story has a way of making it into most elementary-school curricula. Many easy-reader books about her life already exist, all keeping to the surface, rarely getting at the complexities of her life. This is no exception. The familiar story unfolds with little drama: birth, fever, the Boston visit, Annie Sullivan, the W-A-T-E-R scene, college, travels, death. Modern readers, even young ones, could surely handle some of the lesser-known details of Keller’s politics and adult life. Strangely, MacLeod chooses to call the adults in Helen’s life by their first names. While this works with Annie, it does not with Alexander (Graham Bell). Watercolor-filled ink drawings carefully match the text, but competent illustrations cannot make up for what is missing: energy and insight. A better choice for new readers would be Johanna Hurwitz’s Step into Reading offering, Helen Keller: Courage in the Dark (1997), the stalwart Stewart and Polly Graff’s Helen Keller: Crusader for the Blind and Deaf (1991), or for older readers, Joan Dash’s The World at Her Fingertips (2001). The lack of notes, bibliography or online resources further mar this book. (Biography. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-55337-999-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Piven follows up What Presidents Are Made Of (2004) with an equally quirky gallery of athlete portraits made from buttons, gears, plastic miniatures and other found items attached to painted backgrounds. He links his 23 choices, most of whom are still active, or at least living, with the titular theme. Athletes are made of “Flash and Dash” (David Beckham), “Tough Stuff” (Joe Namath), “Big Mouths” (Muhammad Ali), “Funny Habits” (Michael Jordan)—and for he each adds an introductory paragraph and a factoid or two, backed up by further stats or records with thumbnail photos at the end. Though the portraits are too stylized to be recognizable on their own, and several text blocks are semi-legibly printed on dark backgrounds, seeing David Beckham’s face formed by whistles for eyes and a bottle of pink nail polish (which he’s been known to wear) for a nose, or a hot dog standing in for Babe Ruth’s mouth and a funnel for Muhammad Ali’s may draw chuckles from easily amused viewers. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-4169-1002-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Based on an interview with Parks, now in his 90s, and built on his mother’s childhood challenge, “What a white boy can do, you can too—and no excuses,” Parr’s profile briefly traces the photographer/writer/filmmaker’s career from early struggles in Minnesota to his memoir for adults, Hungry Heart (2005). Parks certainly merits attention from younger readers, and an update for Midge Turk’s 1971 biography is definitely overdue. But not only is the caption-like text here too limited to present a rounded picture of Parks’s achievements, but a skimpy selection of his often murky black-and-white photos is padded out with several obtrusive, not always relevant pencil drawings by Kathryn Breidenthal. A substandard, message-driven production, of limited value to libraries. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-58980-411-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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