Beautiful imagery ushers readers into a complex conversation.
An ode to nature and life from the late Guatemalan poet (1952-2019).
Ak’abal’s poems explore both nature and humanity as he writes about relationships, like the one between mother and child, or from the perspective of wildlife, such as a jaguar. Aldana’s selection of his poems provides a map for what a day (or a life) must be like in paradise. He considers Creation in “Al despertar,” substituting Eve for the gift of poetry, and delves into death in sections titled “Living and Dying” and “500 Years.” Aldana’s introduction presents the poet’s impressive legacy and justifies the need for young readers to have access to Ak’abal’s poetry. Further, it explains Ak’abal’s choice to first write in K’iche’ and then to translate and publish in Spanish, bringing a narrative about the Maya experience to a broad readership and facilitating a conversation about the poet’s identity and relationships with family members that had a “K’iche’ voice.” The side-by-side bilingual format of Ak’abal’s Spanish pieces alongside Hazelton’s English translation invites readers to further consider the impact that languages have on identity and the relationship between mother tongues and the surrounding natural world, as onomatopoeias are not translated. This relationship is further exemplified in Carling’s illustrations, which separate the thematic sections and plunge readers into the heart of a jungle ecosystem filled with human-made objects.
Beautiful imagery ushers readers into a complex conversation. (Poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77306-495-6
Page Count: 172
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
An edge-of-your-seat read.
A girl’s birthdays mark parallel tragedies for her broken family unit.
Last year’s celebration at a restaurant ended in an unexplained public shooting, and Nora’s mother died. She and her father are still wrestling with their trauma, Nora with a confirmed diagnosis of PTSD. For this year’s outing, Nora and her father head into the deserts of the Southwest on a rock-climbing expedition. They descend into a 40-foot deep slot canyon, then hike along inside until a flash flood barrels through the canyon, washing away all their supplies…and Nora’s father. She’s left to survive this symbolic and living nightmare on her own. Thankfully, she can make continuous use of her parents’ thorough training in desert knowledge. Brief sections of prose bracket the meat of the story, which is in verse, a choice highly effective in setting tone and emotional resonance for the heightened situation. Bowling’s poems run a gamut of forms, transforming the literal shape of the text just as the canyon walls surrounding Nora shape her trek. The voice of Nora’s therapist breaks through occasionally, providing a counterpoint perspective. Nora is White while two characters seen in memories have brown skin. The narrative also names local Native peoples. Elements of the survival story and psychological thriller combine with strong symbolism to weave a winding, focused, stunning narrative ultimately about the search for healing.
An edge-of-your-seat read. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-49469-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
A deeply moving story that centers a distinctive part of the African American story.
An African American girl and her family experience hardships as they leave Mississippi for a better life out West.
Lettie is growing up in Natchez in 1879 when her father, Thomas, decides the family should join a wagon train heading to Nebraska. There he would no longer have to work on a white man’s land but could acquire his own property. Lettie’s mother, Sylvia, is reluctant to leave her family, but Thomas is determined. When the steamships taking travelers up the Mississippi River to St. Louis leave Black groups behind, they band together to take an alternate route. The families become a community, even electing leaders—although Thomas is disappointed and resentful when he isn’t chosen for a top position. The journey is arduous, but Lettie, with her head for numbers, records their miles and tracks their supplies. Their family dynamic changes when a young woman named Philomena, who’s heading to Nebraska for a teaching job, joins their wagon. Along the way, her presence becomes fortuitous. This is a beautifully crafted novel in verse: Cline-Ransome once again demonstrates her incredible literary skills as characters’ personalities are revealed by their actions. The intergenerational voices provide depth as the events unfold, and the emotionally resonant writing is rich in details that add texture and meaning to this unique depiction of African American homesteaders that’s full of resilience and hope.
A deeply moving story that centers a distinctive part of the African American story. (map, author’s note) (Verse historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780823450169
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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