Readers who enjoyed Bragg and O’Malley’s previous collections will likely find this fun and interesting, loosey-goosey theme...
In this third collaboration (How They Choked, 2014, etc.) with illustrator O’Malley, Bragg profiles 14 famous and infamous characters from the Middle Ages through the 20th century.
Though the cover illustration of a prisoner behind bars suggests all the subjects were criminals, the thematic connection is looser than that, gathering together individuals who were pursued with hopes of capture for a variety of reasons. “Everyone in this book got caught for something; most were guilty, some were not,” Bragg explains. Profiles include spies Mata Hari and Bernard Kuehn, “Typhoid Mary” Mallon, con artist Rasputin, Princess Anastasia impersonator Anna Anderson, Joan of Arc, and Sir Walter Raleigh. Even the connections among those generally acknowledged to be criminals, such as pirate Blackbeard, assassin John Wilkes Booth, and art thief Vincenzo Peruggia, appear vague and arbitrary. Despite this lack of definition, the individual profiles are entertaining and informative. Bragg’s flippant tone and chatty prose style are nicely complemented by O’Malley’s cartoon illustrations. Between each chapter is a page or two of information related to the activities of those profiled and their times. One noticeable weakness is the lack of source notes for quotes attributed to historical figures. Did Dr. George Soper really say to Typhoid Mary, “You, Mary Mallon, cooking in the kitchen with icky bathroom germs on your hands”?
Readers who enjoyed Bragg and O’Malley’s previous collections will likely find this fun and interesting, loosey-goosey theme and all. (bibliography) (Collective biography. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6741-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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