This faithful adaptation’s lack of narrative detail will fail to engage readers.
When Mulan’s frail father is conscripted into the Chinese emperor’s army, she decides to disguise herself as a man and take her father’s place.
Over many years of waging war, Mulan’s strength and bravery earn her ever higher ranks and even her own command. When the emperor himself rewards her for her many victories, she is finally granted what she desires most: to return home. There, after reuniting with her family, she reveals herself as a woman to her fellow soldiers, who exclaim in surprise. Many may already know this story from the 1998 Disney movie adaptation or other versions, but this edition is unique in its accurate retelling, bordering on translation, of the original Chinese poem. Unfortunately, this strict adherence to a sixth-century text (included in the backmatter) makes for a disjointed and unemotional experience, as the poem highlights moments within the story rather than telling a fleshed-out narrative. For example, what Mulan purchased in preparation for departure is detailed, but how she evaded detection as a woman for so many years is not addressed. And of her return home, “Mulan hugged her family. / She was happy to see them.” The retelling leaves many questions unanswered and emotional touch points underdeveloped. Handsome accompanying illustrations depict Mulan’s beauty and strength wonderfully, though backgrounds and secondary characters pale in comparison.
This faithful adaptation’s lack of narrative detail will fail to engage readers. (Folktale. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-280341-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Imaginatively conveys the drudgery—if not the sheer terror—of war to a young audience.
This is the remarkable true story of an ordinary goat who became the beloved mascot of the Fifth Canadian Battalion during World War I.
In Messier’s dryly humorous tale, Billy adapts well to army life, traveling with the soldiers on training exercises, boarding the troop ship to England with them, and being smuggled onboard the ship to France in an empty orange box. He never complains about the squalid conditions of life in the trenches (he is depicted bleating at a rat) and provides important moral support to frightened or tired soldiers, who mention him affectionately in their letters home. He even saves lives, butting three soldiers into a trench before a shell explodes. Billy becomes such a great protector and defender of his regiment that he is promoted to sergeant and eventually becomes a decorated war hero, surviving the war and ultimately returning to his original owner, depicted as a little girl on a farm in Saskatchewan. Messier’s smooth, well-paced text and Reich’s muted gouache illustrations in warlike tones of olive and brown well convey the poignancy and humor of the story. Such afflictions as trench foot and shell shock are conveyed though not explored in depth, and no characters die. All human characters appear to be white.
Imaginatively conveys the drudgery—if not the sheer terror—of war to a young audience. (author’s note, photographs) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6442-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Necessary.
Just over 100 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, Elizabeth Jennings refused to dismount from a New York City streetcar.
In 1854, New York was a so-called free state, and Lizzie Jennings was a freeborn, well-to-do African American woman. Accustomed to being permitted in the better-appointed streetcars reserved for white passengers, Lizzie is first taken aback and then angered when the white conductor tells her she must wait for one emblazoned “Colored People Allowed in This Car.” Her refusal to leave leads to a contretemps with the law—and a white witness, whose expression of support bolsters her enough to file an eventual, successful, groundbreaking lawsuit. Anderson’s third-person text allows readers under Lizzie’s skin as her indignation at injustice mounts. Children will readily recognize both the conductor’s capricious cruelty and Lizzie’s anger that “being born a ‘free black’ in a ‘free state’ ” does not mean being “treated as equal.” Lewis’ dappled watercolors depict the action and extend it. A picture of an angry Lizzie thrown to the cobbles, bonnet askew, is shocking; another, of the faces of five white, male jurors floating forbiddingly against a vivid, dark-blue background, underscores the injustice of the legal system. A two-page author’s note fleshes out the history, including mentions of Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks.
Necessary. (bibliography, further reading) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62979-939-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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