Readers will goggle at the very notion.
The lengths that high-society women in the 1700s would go to for their hairstyles….
Mrs. Muriel Paddington would like to win an award at the Moonlight Ball. After some back and forth with her hairdresser, she decides upon a windmill theme. The next spreads detail the elaborate 3-foot-tall hairpiece’s construction. It includes a wire frame, pillow, and hair extensions “donated” (read: demanded) from her maid. Then there’s the beef-marrow and wax pomade, the pound of flour per week that dusts the creation, and the mixture of sugar water that solidifies the whole thing—no wonder Mrs. Paddington has a problem with mice when she finally gets into bed and tries to sleep (sitting mostly upright with a special pillow). A visit to the Silver Mousetrap Shoppe takes care of the problem, and a pewter headscratcher gives some relief from the insects infesting her hairdo. Readers will likely either be laughing like the commoners on the street or shaking their heads in disbelief that rich grown-ups would actually crawl in and out of a store because they couldn’t fit through the door upright. Cox’s illustrations ably capture the whimsy and creativity of the hairstyles while poking gentle fun at the same time. Mrs. Paddington’s surroundings are suitably opulent, all the people are pale, and the dialogue is aptly stuffy. Occasional sidebars attest to the historicity that underlies the ridiculousness, but there is no explicit parsing of fact from fancy.
Readers will goggle at the very notion. (sources) (Picture book. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63440-900-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Red Chair Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
This slim volume brings to you-are-there life a historical episode often relegated to a sidebar.
It might be said that the American Revolution began with the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773.
Crowds of protestors filled Boston’s Old South Church. “Boston Harbor a teapot tonight!” someone yelled. And sure enough, that evening, thousands of pounds of tea from three merchant ships were dumped into the harbor. A wide range of Boston society—well-known citizens, carpenters, printers, blacksmiths and shipwrights, young and old—dressed up to resemble Mohawk Indians, their faces smeared with grease and lampblack or soot, turned out to protest the British government’s tyranny. As always, Freedman demonstrates his skill at telling the story behind the facts, weaving a lively narrative out of the details and voices that shaped one episode of history. Drawing on primary resources as well as scholarly works, he smoothly melds quotations from eyewitnesses and other sources into a lively and engaging narrative. The volume has been lovingly designed, and Malone’s memorable watercolor illustrations are beautifully wrought, adding much to the telling. The Boston Tea Party is often just one of several names and events that students have to memorize in school; here’s a chance to read about it as an exciting story.
This slim volume brings to you-are-there life a historical episode often relegated to a sidebar. (afterword, bibliographic essay, note on tea, timeline, sources, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2266-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Reluctant historians may find Virgil's "ghostory" appealing.
History is more haunted than readers may think.
Disney might have some believing that castles are clean, pink and full of unicorn tapestries. But Virgil Dante, youngest Master Ghostorian in London, is here to disabuse readers of that notion, ostensibly with the help of his raven, Thor, and a passel of ghosts. They tour history with the assistance of a cursed pocket watch and look in on castles, dungeons, palaces and graveyards. Here and there, they learn a thing or two from a “real” ghost from the locale and time period they are visiting. More often, Virgil just lectures in a colloquial narrative voice or offers maps, lists and diagrams of horrible places and things in world history. The usual suspects get the eye: The Tower of London and the Bastille figure prominently, but there are also lesser-known nests of nastiness like Himeji Castle in Japan and Castle Neuschwanstein in Bavaria. Everett and Scott-Waters have put together an instructive, amusing-enough gross-and-horrible history title. However, it feels a bit scattered, and the ghosts are few and far between. Abundant black-and-white illustrations are grisly and spooky enough to hold interest.
Reluctant historians may find Virgil's "ghostory" appealing. (timeline, maps, resources) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: July 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8971-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2012
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