A tender, lively, and mostly thoughtful tour through summer on the frozen continent.
For six months straight, the sun shines in Antarctica, and the ice and oceans are alive with activity.
Latham’s collection of poems introduces young readers to the rituals and transitions experienced by Antarctica’s diverse flora and fauna during its extended, though freezing, summer season. The return of the sun brings with it migratory birds and whales, the shedding of winter coats, and the birth and growth of the next generation. Each spread uses a poem and soft illustration to present a scene of Antarctic summer, which a small text box of factual information explains in more detail. Readers become acquainted with a variety of life both above and below the water, including multiple species of penguins and seals. The gentle illustrations excel at balancing both the frigid iciness and the blossoming hope of spring. Though playfulness abounds, this is not a romanticized portrait of life in the polar south—to survive, alphas must battle for mates, and predators must catch prey. The one misstep is the lack of direct representation of climate change in the poems and illustrations. Considering how dramatic the effects of climate change are on both the landscape and the life of the region, its mere two mentions in text boxes feel insufficient.
A tender, lively, and mostly thoughtful tour through summer on the frozen continent. (glossary, further reading) (Informational picture book/poetry. 7-12)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4677-5216-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
A powerfully candid and soulful account of an immigrant experience.
A Taiwanese family tries their luck in America.
In this verse novel, it’s 1980, and nearly 11-year-old Ai Shi and her mother prepare to leave Taipei to join her father in California, where he is pursuing a business opportunity with a friend. The extended family send them off, telling Ai Shi she’s so lucky to go to the “beautiful country”—the literal translation of the Chinese name for the U.S. Once they are reunited with Ba, he reveals that they have instead poured their savings into a restaurant in the remote Los Angeles County town of Duarte. Ma and Ba need to learn to cook American food, but at least, despite a betrayal by Ba’s friend, they have their own business. However, the American dream loses its shine as language barriers, isolation, financial stress, and racism take their toll. Ai Shi internalizes her parents’ disappointment in their new country by staying silent about bullying at school and her own unmet needs. Her letters home to her favorite cousin, Mei, maintain that all is well. After a year of enduring unrelenting challenges, including vandalism by local teens, the family reaches its breaking point. Hope belatedly arrives in the form of community allies and a change of luck. Kuo deftly touches on complex issues, such as the human cost of the history between China and Taiwan as well as the socio-economic prejudices and identity issues within Asian American communities.
A powerfully candid and soulful account of an immigrant experience. (Verse historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: June 28, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-311898-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
An emotional and powerful story with soaring poetry.
A fourth grader navigates the complicated world of immigration.
Betita Quintero loves the stories her father tells about the Aztlán (the titular land of cranes), how their people emigrated south but were fabled to return. Betita also loves to write. She considers words like “intonation,” “alchemy,” and “freedom” to be almost magic, using those and other words to create picture poems to paint her feelings, just like her fourth grade teacher, Ms. Martinez, taught her. But there are also words that are scary, like “cartel,” a word that holds the reason why her family had to emigrate from México to the United States. Even though Betita and her parents live in California, a “sanctuary state,” the seemingly constant raids and deportations are getting to be more frequent under the current (unnamed) administration. Thinking her family is safe because they have a “petition…to fly free,” Betita is devastated when her dad is taken away by ICE. Without their father, the lives of the Quinteros, already full of fear and uncertainty, are further derailed when they make the small mistake of missing a highway exit. Salazar’s verse novel presents contemporary issues such as “zero tolerance” policies, internalized racism, and mass deportations through Betita’s innocent and hopeful eyes, making the complex topics easy to understand through passionate, lyrical verses.
An emotional and powerful story with soaring poetry. (Verse fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-34380-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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