by Jane Yolen & illustrated by Jim Burke ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2008
Gitl, the youngest in her Jewish family, looks forward to escaping the pogroms and persecution of Czarist Russia. After eldest son Shmuel (now Sammy) spends two years in the States, the family joins him, following a long journey by cart, foot, train and ship. Facing pages tell the story of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and the creation of the Statue of Liberty. Arriving in New York Harbor, the sight of the welcoming great lady encourages Gitl to choose a new uniquely American name for herself: Libby, short for Liberty. Yolen’s graceful text and Burke’s illustrations balance the events and emotions of the parallel stories. Oil-painted panels in deep browns, greens and grays depict bearded Eastern village Jews against the modern cities of Paris and New York. The two Atlantic crossings come together in one New York Harbor view of the copper Statue, symbolizing the unifying themes of new ideas, freedom and the opportunity for a fresh start. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24250-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2008
Share your opinion of this book
More by Jane Yolen
BOOK REVIEW
by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Kathryn Brown
BOOK REVIEW
by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Cathrin Peterslund
BOOK REVIEW
by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Paolo Domeniconi
by Doreen Rappaport ; illustrated by Matt Faulkner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 2016
Rappaport makes this long struggle palpable and relevant, while Faulkner adds a winning mix of gravitas and high spirits.
Rappaport examines the salient successes and raw setbacks along the 144-year-long road between the nation’s birth and women’s suffrage.
This lively yet forthright narrative pivots on a reality that should startle modern kids: women’s right to vote was only achieved in 1920, 72 years after Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Indeed, time’s passage figures as a textual motif, connecting across decades such determined women as Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone. They spoke tirelessly, marched, organized, and got arrested. Rappaport includes events such as 1913’s Women’s Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C., but doesn’t shy from divisive periods like the Civil War. Faulkner’s meticulously researched gouache-and-ink illustrations often infuse scenes with humor by playing with size and perspective. As Stanton and Lucretia Mott sail into London in 1840 for the World Anti-Slavery Conference, Faulkner depicts the two women as giants on the ship’s upper deck. On the opposite page, as they learn they’ll be barred as delegates, they’re painted in miniature, dwarfed yet unflappable beneath a gallery full of disapproving men. A final double-page spread mingles such modern stars as Shirley Chisholm and Sonia Sotomayor amid the historical leaders.
Rappaport makes this long struggle palpable and relevant, while Faulkner adds a winning mix of gravitas and high spirits. (biographical thumbnails, chronology, sources, websites, further reading, author’s note) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7868-5142-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
Share your opinion of this book
More by Doreen Rappaport
BOOK REVIEW
by Doreen Rappaport ; illustrated by Oliver Dominguez
BOOK REVIEW
by Doreen Rappaport ; illustrated by Eric Velasquez
BOOK REVIEW
by Doreen Rappaport ; illustrated by Linda Kukuk
by Meg Wiviott & illustrated by Josée Bisaillon ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2010
Benno the cat has it pretty good, with a nice warm bed by the furnace of a Berlin apartment building, fresh milk every night, scraps from Shabbat dinners at the Adlers’ apartment and Sunday lunches with the Schmidts. Visiting Moshe’s butcher shop provides more nourishment, while the sunny window of Mitzi Stein’s fabric shop serves perfectly for afternoon naps. But one day things change, when men in brown shirts defile the neighborhood with a book-burning in the center of the street followed by the smashing of store windows, looting and destruction of certain apartments and stores. These terribly frightening events change not only Benno’s secure, happy cat existence but become known as Kristallnacht, the beginning of the Holocaust. Bisaillon’s combination of collage, drawings and digital montage create a Cubist backdrop for this darkly portrayed story told with minimal details that keep strictly to the cat’s level of understanding—it’s up to readers and their grown-ups to fill in the gaps, aided by an afterword and bibliography that provide background to the topic and grist for discussion. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8225-9929-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
Share your opinion of this book
More by Meg Wiviott
BOOK REVIEW
by Meg Wiviott
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.