It’s not perfect, but it deserves solid consideration.
Otheguy presents a succinct chronicle of Pope Francis’ trajectory from his childhood in Buenos Aires to his papacy in Rome.
Straightforward storytelling reveals Jorge Bergoglio as a prayerful boy who loved soccer and learned about the goodness of all people from his grandma Rosa. As an adult, he became a Jesuit priest as part of his search to help people and eventually became the first South American and Jesuit pope in 2013. Otheguy successfully weaves Catholic concepts into the historical narrative, such as the election process for a new pope, and defines such potentially unfamiliar terms as “pontiff” while she underscores his care for prisoners, refugees, the planet, and children. Extensive backmatter, including a moving and personal author’s note and citations for the primary source quotations, elevates the historical content further. While the book succeeds in narration, it struggles in illustration. Depictions of Pope Francis are strong and realistic, but supporting characters, such as the cardinals, lack refinement. The book’s design is predictable: one or more paragraphs of text paired with Dominguez’s literal illustrations in acrylic, gouache, watercolor, ink, and pastel that bleed across the gutter. The overuse of jagged lines to represent sounds (think: ZAP! and POW! from 1960s TV Batman) is slightly tiresome; the figures’ gestures are enough to connote action. In spite of the shortfalls in illustration, this is an uplifting and solidly researched book about a significant world leader.
It’s not perfect, but it deserves solid consideration. (timeline, glossary, selected bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-560-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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