Marred by its own contrivances.
Barretta adopts a familiar narrative device, contrasting the lives—separated by a century—of presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
On facing pages and within spreads, he presents similarities in the two men’s lives—some monumental, others mere oddities. Poignantly, the Lincoln and Kennedy families each lost two children, one before and one during their lives in the White House. Barretta portrays each man’s relationship to civil rights, collating Lincoln’s successful 1860 election with the new Republican Party’s opposition to slavery. The ensuing Civil War weighed heavily: “Lincoln agonized over the casualties on both sides of the battlefield. In his eyes, every soldier was still an American.” In 1863, Lincoln met successfully with Frederick Douglass, previously his critic. In 1963, Kennedy proposed new civil rights legislation, met with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and declared that the descendants of slaves were not fully free. The nation would “not be fully free until all its citizens are free.” Barretta’s full-bleed watercolors caricature both people and events. Two maps with keys—one depicting slave and free states, the other, the Soviet Union and communist countries (all unnamed)—are weak elements. The jumpy, back-and-forth format renders the achievements and complexities of each man less intelligible then a linear presentation would, and the assassinations are trivialized by a bulleted list of coincidences.
Marred by its own contrivances. (further facts, trivia, unsourced quotes, glossary, sources) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9945-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite bumps, informative as well as inspiring.
An illuminating portrait of a self-taught Turkish artist who, despite being blind from birth, has become an internationally known painter.
Adding a light wash of biographical detail to her account, Burk traces Esref Armagan’s long efforts to develop his skills, to earn recognition and a living, and to fend off skeptics claiming that he must be cheating, somehow. Though the prose is occasionally trite (“I will learn to use color so that people can relate to my art, Esref decided when he was fifteen”), the author’s particular focus on the artist’s development—his discoveries of shadows and of perspective, for instance—and specific techniques for preparing canvases with modeling clay or glued-down string offers real insight into how obstacles raised by physical disabilities can be overcome with motivation and ingenuity. Gadotti inserts small but representative reproductions of Armagan’s accomplished landscapes, still lifes, and sketches into staid views of the artist at work from childhood onward. The relatively lengthy text is set in a blocky, sans serif typeface that is occasionally difficult to read against the backgrounds, due to poor contrast or conflicting underlying details.
Despite bumps, informative as well as inspiring. (afterword) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)Pub Date: July 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-943431-15-1
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Tumblehome Learning
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An adequate introduction to the Vietnamese refugee journey for young readers (Picture book. 7-10)
A young Vietnamese boy and his family flee Vietnam in search of a better life.
Along with co-author Skrypuch, Vietnamese-Canadian Ho recounts his family’s flight from Vietnam in 1981. At the book’s outset, 6-year-old Ho returns home from school to learn that he, his mother, and his two older sisters will leave Vietnam that very night. Each hour of the Ho family’s flight is fraught with danger. Soldiers shoot at them on the beach when they make a run toward a skiff. Their boat springs a leak, and soon after, the motor dies, leaving 60 passengers adrift in the middle of the sea with little water and food. Throughout the harrowing passage, Ho’s mother is by his side, comforting him. On the sixth day of their four-day journey, an American aircraft carrier spots their boat and offers the Vietnamese passengers refuge. Skrypuch and Ho’s retelling focuses mostly on actions and events with scant attention to the 6-year-old boy’s emotional state. The primary narrative provides little context for readers who are unfamiliar with the Vietnamese refugee crisis, but detailed authors’ notes include history, photographs, and maps. The warm undertones in Deines’ oil paintings evoke tropical Vietnam. However, his soft, slightly out-of-focus images give Ho’s story a dreamlike feel that dampens the danger recounted within the text, according readers a luxury not afforded to Ho and the legions of other refugee children suffering through crisis, then and now.
An adequate introduction to the Vietnamese refugee journey for young readers (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77278-005-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Pajama Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
