A patchwork production, far less seaworthy than, for instance, Sally Walker’s two titles on the subject.
The story of the first attack submarine’s drastically brief career and, nearly a century and a half later, rediscovery.
Even though it was, as the author artlessly puts it, “well-designed and well-crafted in the American spirit of invention,” the H.L. Hunley sank repeatedly in tests and never came back from its first mission in 1864. Rather than go into details about how the submarine worked (sort of), Hawk opts to extend her simply written version of its exploits with tangentially related chapters on the battle of Shiloh, the end of the Civil War, and an undocumented (she admits) legend that romantically links a gold coin found in the wreck with the sub’s captain, George Dixon, and a Southern belle named Queenie Bennet. Likewise, Wyrick’s uncaptioned reconstructions of battle scenes and the submarine underwater (which are not always placed near the actions they describe) don’t serve quite as well as the more informative period views of the vessel and its interior that have been used to illustrate other treatments. The account switches to photos and does go into somewhat more detail when describing how the wreck was found in 1995, raised in 2000, and transported to a lab; in a final chapter, a conservator and an archaeologist describe their still-ongoing restoration work.
A patchwork production, far less seaworthy than, for instance, Sally Walker’s two titles on the subject. (map, resource lists) (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61117-788-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Young Palmetto Books
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Despite some bright spots, the lapses in information limit this book’s effectiveness.
Celebrations the world over involve parades, foods, traditional clothing, masks, songs, and games.
Information on 14 festivals, country maps, small photos, sidebars with holiday traditions (in the appropriate language, with pronunciations), and instructions for a craft or a recipe make up the jam-packed left-hand page of each spread. Colorful, detailed cartoon illustrations appear opposite. There are certainly interesting facts and activities, but careless errors (including a typo to be corrected in the second printing) and a decided slant toward Western Europe (five countries) diminish the volume’s value. Opening with a monthly timeline, it offers a basic explanation of the lunar calendar, but this is not integrated into the overall schematic. This spread also includes a note about adult help for crafting and cooking. Many of the holidays are commonly celebrated in many places, and the author’s failure to point out that Eid al-Fitr, for instance, is celebrated around the globe and not just in Egypt is a sad, missed opportunity. A few festivals are not often presented in books of this ilk, such as Bhutan’s Dangpai Losar (New Year) and Laternenfest, held on St. Martin’s Day in Germany. The last spread brings children from the different countries together and asks readers to create their own celebrations. Sadly, given the glancing notice necessitated by the format, there are no further resources included.
Despite some bright spots, the lapses in information limit this book’s effectiveness. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4549-3213-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An inspiring reminder that there are footprints on the moon, addressed to readers who may one day leave some of their own.
Fifty years after the first moon landing, a solemn commemoration of the Apollo 11 to 17 missions.
Taking poetic license—she includes nods to the astronauts who remained in lunar orbit and also those aboard the nearly disastrous Apollo 13, so naming 21 in all—Slade briefly describes in present tense each mission’s discoveries and highlights, then goes on in a separate section to offer expanded fact summaries about each, along with describing the Apollo rockets and vehicles. Marks’ impressionistic views of our remote satellite (“A quiet place where / no wind blows, / no water flows, / no life grows”) seen from Earth and of heavily burdened astronauts bounding across grayish-brown moonscapes beneath deep, black skies give way in the second section to small photos, including group portraits of each (all-white and -male) crew. Though aimed at a younger audience than her Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez (2018), this history takes up where that one leaves off and so works equally well as a stand-alone tribute to the Apollo program’s achievements or as a lagniappe.
An inspiring reminder that there are footprints on the moon, addressed to readers who may one day leave some of their own. (timeline, source notes, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-58089-773-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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