In the Women Writers of English and Their Works series, an entry that brings together 12 children's book (female) writers, most of them dead (Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Louise Fitzhugh, Kate Greenaway, E. Nesbit, L.M. Montgomery, Beatrix Potter, P.L. Travers, Laura Ingalls Wilder), but three who are most definitely not: Madeleine L'Engle, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Katherine Paterson. The critical extracts that Bloom (Vergil's Aeneid, 1996, etc.) brings together are difficult going even for well-read adults; what YAs may come away with—from Henry James's attacks on Alcott and Alison Lurie's retread of Greenaway as the lame boy the Pied Piper leaves behind—is the vast, consuming nature of literary criticism, its subjectivity, occasional forays into spite, and infrequent—incidental— illumination. Brief biographies (three or four paragraphs) provide background on each of the 12, while bibliographies of their works point the way to primary sources. The breadth of the 80+ articles included (from Anne Parrish on Greenaway in 1846 to articles on Wilder that have appeared in the last year) and their variety (Graham Green on Potter, Jonathan Cott on P.L. Travers, Paterson on Paterson) make the volume essential for the professional reading shelves; it may require some coaxing to get it into the hands of younger bibliophiles but will justify such coaxing amply. (Criticism. 14+)
Pub Date: Sept. 8, 1997
ISBN: 0-7910-4486-6
Page Count: 165
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pitamic bites off more than she can chew with this instructional art volume, but its core projects will excite in the right context. Twelve pieces of fine art inspire two art projects apiece. Matisse’s The Snail opens the Color section; after history and analysis, there’s one project arranging multicolored tissue-paper squares and one project adding hue to white paint to create stripes of value gradation. These creative endeavors exploring value, shade, texture and various media will exhilarate young artists—but only with at best semi-successful results, as they require an adult dedicated to both advance material procurement and doing the artwork along with the child. Otherwise, complex instructions plus a frequent requirement to draw or trace realistically will cause frustration. Much of the text is above children’s heads, errors of terminology and reproduction detract and the links between the famous pieces and the projects are imprecise. However, an involved adult and an enterprising child aged seven to ten will find many of the projects fabulously challenging and rewarding. Art In Action 2 (ISBN: 978-0-7641-441-7) publishes simultaneously. (artist biographies, glossary, location of originals) (Nonfiction. Adults)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7641-4440-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Barron's
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
American citizens have been held hostage in the Middle East at least since 1979, when our embassy in Teheran was seized by a mob; Lawson's history of the US government's response in the 80's makes a sad tale of hypocrisy, incompetence, and corruption. He shows how, after the hostage crisis cost Carter his political career, Reagan allowed a series of profitable arms-for-hostages deals to go through—while publicly condemning the idea—to finance his ``pet anti-communist project.'' The ensuing revelations, investigations, and trials are covered here in some detail. In an epilogue, Lawson notes that a new group of hostages were taken when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in 1990. A thematic introduction by Arthur L. Liman, an attorney involved in the Senate Iran-contra investigation, sums it up: Reagan's advisors, acting from ``disrespect, bordering on contempt'' for the Constitution, established a ``secret government within the Government'' for specifically illegal purposes. B&w photos; adequate bibliography; long chronology; excellent notes; chart listing hostages taken in the 80's; index. (Nonfiction. YA)
Pub Date: April 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-531-11009-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1991
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