Crisp dialogue and small dramas propel this story of a young woman’s summer of service in wartime and women’s emerging power...
Based on real events and people, Hagar’s story follows college student Helen Stevens during the summer of 1917 as the white “New York City college girl” learns farming to support the war effort.
As allies in war-torn Europe struggled with food scarcity despite U.S. supplies, American men trained as soldiers or moved from farms to factories. The Woman’s Land Army of America recruited and trained women to work on farms. Helen, who yearns to do more than roll bandages and knit socks for soldiers, enrolls in the Women’s Agricultural Camp in Bedford, New York, despite her parents’ disapproval. She and other “farmerettes” learn to whitewash a dairy, fence a coop, milk cows, and drive a tractor. Ida Ogilvie, the camp’s director, convinces dubious farmer Davie to give Helen, Alice, and Harriet a day’s unpaid trial. At day’s end, he directs them to return to test their work with livestock. Helen digs in, saying, “If you want us back tomorrow, it’ll be two dollars a day for each of us.” Hill’s Photoshopped gouache paintings, in a palette of green, gray-brown, gold, and pink, use flat color and simple contours to depict fields, workers, and pastel summer skies. Characters are white, perhaps reflecting the camp’s composition.
Crisp dialogue and small dramas propel this story of a young woman’s summer of service in wartime and women’s emerging power on the homefront. (author’s note, web search ideas, bibliography, period posters and photographs) (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58089-646-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
A deeply felt narrative, distilled from contemporary reports and documents.
A Southern novelist looks to the Civil War’s immediate aftermath in this newly free child’s account of a weary search for his mother.
“War’s over. Government say we free. Folks be on the move. Getting the feel for freedom. Not me.” He joins the large number of ex-slaves who, “all hope and hurry on,” have hit the road in search of brighter futures, but young Gabe has a different goal: tracking down his sold-away and only living parent Rosie Lee. Keeping his goal before him like the fixed North Star, he travels for months from Mobile to the “worn-down toes of the Appalachian Mountains,” following vague leads from sympathetic listeners and offices of the Freedman’s Bureau, enduring hardships and disappointment. Applying paint in thickly brushed impasto, Shepherd views Gabe’s world and encounters from a child’s-eye height but gives the barefoot, raggedly clad boy a look of hard-won maturity that points to past sorrows and underscores the depth of his determination. His distinct voice will draw readers into caring about his quest and sharing the tide of joy that accompanies his ultimate success: “That night, I slept snuggled up tight with my mama, praying for all those boys like me searching for their mamas who be searching for them.”
A deeply felt narrative, distilled from contemporary reports and documents. (afterword) (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-933693-97-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
Each travelogue is narrated by a big sister, a device that deftly reveals the striking differences—and similarities—between...
This spry outing contrasts parallel westward journeys of two families—one traveling by covered wagon in 1846, the other by car, trailer and moving van in a modern-day relocation.
Each travelogue is narrated by a big sister, a device that deftly reveals the striking differences—and similarities—between children in the two eras. Jenny says, “Our trip will take five months, from May to September. I’ve heard that some people die on the trail. I hope we survive the journey.” Katie journals, “Our trip will take five days, from Monday to Friday….All that driving—not to mention my brother driving me crazy the whole way. How will I survive?” The pioneering Johnsons must sell livestock and leave behind heavy furniture. Jenny and her brother Ned walk most of the way, leaving the jouncing wagon’s 4x10-foot interior for provisions. The Millers ship or stow most possessions and utilize hotels en route. Children will respond to the emotions linking the children across time—Jenny must give away her beloved cat, while Katie observes “All I do is say goodbye.” Avril’s appealing illustrations combine cartoonish, kid-friendly sequencing and engaging details. Design elements that include split panels and contrasting typography highlight the dual experiences, while speech bubbles and chatty details unite them.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8075-8612-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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