In this fine introduction to the life of van Gogh, Greenberg and Jordan (Frank O. Gehry: Inside Out, 2000, etc.) make excellent use of the artist’s letters to infuse the biography with his voice. After a brief prologue about a key moment in his work, the biography follows van Gogh’s life chronologically (with the dates covered given as part of each chapter title), followed by a relevant quote from a letter. Many chapters end on notes of anticipation, sometimes almost cliffhangers, leading the reader eagerly into the next phase of the painter’s life. Information about van Gogh’s personality, moods, and relationships is interwoven with descriptions of his progress in art to form a seamless whole. Two drawings and 17 color reproductions of his paintings from different periods illustrate the changes in his style as described in the text. The authors attain their goal stated in the introduction of getting “beyond the myth without losing touch with the power of its appeal.” They clarify the widely-known story about van Gogh cutting off his ear, all the while conveying the artist as a sympathetic man who suffered greatly but also recognized and took joy in his own talent. The biography focuses on van Gogh’s life rather than on a critical look at his work; those hoping for commentary on specific paintings will have to look elsewhere. But the reader who wants insight into the life of this remarkable painter will find it in this lively, beautifully written biography. (Biography. 11-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-32806-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2001
In this volume of the Dear America series, Gregory (Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie, 1997, etc.) describes the creation of the historic transcontinental railroad through the meeting of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. Vital to western expansion, the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 authorized the competitive laying of track by the two companies, and travel was forever changed: a journey of six months by stagecoach, or five months by wagon train, took only six or seven days by railroad. Readers learn these facts and others painlessly, witnessing the construction of the railroad through the eyes of Libby West, a forthright 14-year-old whose father is a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News in the Utah Territory. He risks being tarred and feathered whenever he and other reporters write the unvarnished truth about the railroad’s progress. On the homefront, women are the keepers of hearth and home, facing the hardships of all those who followed their dreams to the frontier. Numerous facts are interwoven, archival drawings and photos are included, and history is brought to life through Libby’s candid narration. (b&w photos) (Fiction. 8-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-10991-X
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
In what has, for no discernable reason, become a rush to publish biographies of Bell, this emerges as the least formal, most approachable of the pack. MacLeod (I Heard a Little Baa, 1998) takes the great inventor, familiarly dubbed “AGB,” from Edinburgh to Ontario, on to Boston, and finally to his estate in Nova Scotia, giving his public and private lives equal attention, capturing his vast range of interest from aeronautics to audiology, and bringing his familiar exploits to life. A stubby caricature of Bell guides readers through full but not overcrowded collages of family photos, manuscript pages, simple diagrams, period advertisements, and newspaper illustrations. This is just a glimpse of the man, of course, and those who want to take a longer look can start with either the web sites listed at the back, or move on to Tom L. Matthews’s Always Inventing (p. 69). (index) (Biography. 8-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-55074-456-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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