Kids with queer interests deserve better.
A brisk stroll down the road of LGBTQ+ history, primarily in the United States and Europe.
Lawson and Knight guide readers through a starry-eyed examination of queer history. The work is divided into 23 four-page chapters. Each begins with a full-page spread of bold artwork and an introductory sentence or two, which are followed by two pages of text discussing the chapter’s theme. Although the book introduces international movements and icons—Frida Kahlo, Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa, prime minister of Iceland Jóhanna Siguðardóttir—the history targets the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The text also stops with President Barack Obama’s term, excluding his successor’s strong anti-transgender and anti-queer policies. Within the text, the facts are presented somewhat breezily; Mead’s book is mentioned as being published “in the late 1920s” instead of noting 1928 as the publication year. The vibrant illustrations are presented without captions or even context, doing little to enhance or support the text. Readers already familiar with queer history may recognize Marlene Dietrich, Venus Xtravaganza, or Grace Jones, but readers new to the topic may be left frustrated. The backmatter includes a timeline, glossary, and spotty index; Venus Xtravaganza, although pictured and mentioned, is not listed, for instance, while Hector Xtravaganza (also mentioned) is.
Kids with queer interests deserve better. (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: May 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62371-952-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Crocodile/Interlink
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
Readers who want to know when their jet packs and food tablets will be coming will find no answers in this mishmash of...
A Belgian import attempts prognostication.
Schutten opens and closes with the dead-cinch prediction that readers in 2030 will laugh at his views on where household tech, sustainable land and water use, medicine and robotics are heading in the near future. In between, he delivers debatable prophecies that microwave ovens will be superseded by unspecified new devices, that computer games will replace most toys and like airy claims. These are embedded in equally superficial surveys of the pros and cons of fossil and alternative energy sources, as well as cautionary looks at environmentally damaging agricultural and lifestyle practices that are in at least the early stages of being addressed. Conversely, he is blindly optimistic about the wonders of “superfoods,” carrying surveillance chips in our bodies and supersmart robots managing our lives. Uncaptioned photos and graphics add lots of color but little content. A closing section of provocative questions, plus endnotes citing news stories, blog posts and other sources of more detailed information, may give would-be futurologists some reward for slogging their ways through.
Readers who want to know when their jet packs and food tablets will be coming will find no answers in this mishmash of eco-sermons and vague allusions to cutting-edge technology. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-58270-474-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Beyond Words/Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fine introduction to a musical icon.
Silvey examines the life of Pete Seeger, whose folk music and social activism brought both worldwide acclaim and a decade of government persecution.
Born into a privileged family in 1919, Pete attended boarding schools from third grade, isolated from his divorced parents and family. He read voraciously and incubated his interests in the outdoors, journalism, art, and music; a high school teacher introduced him to the banjo. After dropping out of Harvard, Seeger pursued a winding path that included performing children’s concerts and cataloging folk music at the Library of Congress. The straightforward narrative chronicles Pete’s musical arc—from hardscrabble touring with Woody Guthrie and the Almanac Singers to the phenomenal success of the Weavers, who introduced Americans to folk and world music. Silvey links Seeger’s music with his commitment to social causes, from workers’ rights and civil rights to the antiwar and environmental movements. She skillfully illuminates Seeger’s 10-year ordeal during the tenure of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Surveilled, blacklisted, subpoenaed, arrested, tried, and convicted, the former Communist Party member was vindicated on appeal in 1962. Silvey’s afterword frankly acknowledges Seeger as a personal hero, avowing that her biographer’s neutrality was trumped by her research into Seeger’s unjust treatment by the FBI and HUAC.
A fine introduction to a musical icon. (photographs, quotation source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-547-33012-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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