An intimate and rewarding biography of a remarkable doctor, designed for young readers.
An illustrated children’s book presents an accessible portrait of the life and career of a medical pioneer.
Few people who knew Audrey Evans during her childhood in 1920s and ’30s England could have predicted that she would become a physician one day. Rebellious and sometimes reckless, Evans was also ill with tuberculosis as a child, which caused her to lag behind in school. These factors made it seem unlikely that she would be able to pass the rigorous tests necessary for medical school, much less overcome the barriers placed before women trying to enter the traditionally male field. Time and again, Evans’ determination to succeed pulled her over seemingly insurmountable obstacles, as she increased her efforts, retook tests and courses, and even traveled to the United States to complete her training to be a pediatrician. Drawing on her own experiences as a sick child in a hospital, Evans introduced innovative, patient-centered methods of treatment, including the then-radical notion that “doctors, nurses, social workers, and chaplains needed to work together as a team to help children who were sick.” Among the significant accomplishments of Evans’ career was her role in founding a network of “Ronald McDonald houses,” where parents can stay for free while their children are being treated for serious illnesses. Butler’s episodic narrative does an effective job of capturing Evans’ indomitable personality and unusual journey through a series of evocative vignettes. These include “Hooray for Weekends,” which brings to life a typical Saturday in Evans’ home city of York, and “They’re Only Clothes,” which personalizes the upheaval of war through a seemingly trivial event. The tone of the accessible story is upbeat and personal, as it repeatedly encourages young readers to believe that they too can accomplish more than they might expect. Neogi’s rich, carefully detailed, full-page illustrations add texture and depth to the account, with images portraying the bucolic charm of rural England and the excitement of young patients after Evans advocates for them to have birds and fish on their ward. But it would have been less jarring for readers if the author had defined unfamiliar words in the text rather than in a glossary at the end of the work.
An intimate and rewarding biography of a remarkable doctor, designed for young readers. (photos, glossary, bibliography, acknowledgements)Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-578-57157-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Bright Pages Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy.
Through the author’s own childhood diary entries, a seventh grader details her inner life before and after 9/11.
Alyssa’s diary entries start in September 2000, in the first week of her seventh grade year. She’s 11 and dealing with typical preteen concerns—popularity and anxiety about grades—along with other things more particular to her own life. She’s shuffling between Queens and Manhattan to share time between her divorced parents and struggling with thick facial hair and classmates who make her feel like she’s “not a whole person” due to her mixed White and Puerto Rican heritage. Alyssa is endlessly earnest and awkward as she works up the courage to talk to her crush, Alejandro; gushes about her dreams of becoming a shoe designer; and tries to solve her burgeoning unibrow problem. The diaries also have a darker side, as a sense of impending doom builds as the entries approach 9/11, especially because Alyssa’s father works in finance in the World Trade Center. As a number of the diary entries are taken directly from the author’s originals, they effortlessly capture the loud, confusing feelings middle school brings out. The artwork, in its muted but effective periwinkle tones, lends a satisfying layer to the diary’s accessible and delightful format.
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy. (author's note) (Graphic memoir. 8-13)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-77427-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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