An excellent homage to an African-American woman who taught ahead of her time.
An unsung hero and literacy champion whose teaching changed many lives.
Halfmann and Ladd tell the remarkable, true story of Lilly Ann Granderson, an enslaved woman born around 1821 in Petersburg, Virginia. Following the death of her mother, Lilly Ann was sold to a Kentucky slave owner. The master’s children would often play school and included Lilly Ann, teaching her to read. They even gave her an “old ragged blue-back speller…to use and keep,” which she used to practice in private and teach others on the plantation. However, when her master died, she was sold to a cotton plantation in Natchez, Mississippi, where it was illegal for slaves to learn to read. Though Lilly Ann faced much higher penalties there in restarting her school, she expanded her education efforts. However, when the patrollers caught her leading her slave school—the punishment for which was 39 lashes—the authorities found “no law against a slave teaching a slave.” This picture book’s detailed, realistic illustrations were created using acrylic paint and colored pencil. Ladd’s artwork shows Lilly Ann’s determination to improve lives through literacy and will also familiarize readers with the book’s historical settings. An informative afterword and bibliography will make this a useful addition to U.S. history lessons.
An excellent homage to an African-American woman who taught ahead of her time. (Picture book/biography. 7-11)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62014-163-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Playful, provocative, and packed with perspective.
Did Christopher Columbus really “discover” a new world? Did the Pilgrims invite the Wampanoag to a friendly First Thanksgiving? Is July 4 truly the nation’s birthday?
Readers familiar with traditional narratives of America’s founding are invited to interrogate those myths in this interactive exploration of early U.S. history. A strong introductory framework asks whose stories endure and whose have been erased from the history books, emphasizing that Indigenous peoples remain part of the present, not just the past. Each spread presents a common misconception, then asks readers to flip assumptions aside by lifting a partial gatefold that reveals the true story beneath. Well-sourced explanations elevate figures and communities often excluded from history books, including women, Black Americans, and Indigenous peoples. Bold colors, graphic-heavy layouts, and energetic illustrations that make creative use of historical photos and images break complex ideas into bite-size pieces that encourage browsing over linear reading. A timeline, speech bubbles, and lift-the-flap “True or False” quizzes reinforce the book’s core message: History is layered, debatable, and dynamic. Though the book’s busy, nonlinear design may prove challenging for some, on the whole it works very well as an engaging historical overview. The content assumes a foundational knowledge of early U.S. history, making it most suitable for older elementary readers, though some visual choices skew younger. Backmatter includes more historical information and background on the book’s creation.
Playful, provocative, and packed with perspective. (glossary, resources, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9798888599082
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
An enthralling historical account.
Rentetzi tells a lesser-known but inspiring story of science and politics.
In 1958, the U.S. donated two mobile labs to the International Atomic Energy Agency to demonstrate how, in the wake of World War II, nuclear power could be used for good. The vehicles visited four continents, providing global scope to the project. From the book’s first spread, which refers to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and includes an image of a mushroom cloud), Rentetzi’s clear, concise text, translated from Dutch, explains the hope that the labs would allow scientists to make advances in agriculture, medicine, and industry. Scientists “with or without lab coats, with or without shoes” attended training sessions and applied what they’d learned to local challenges. De Decker’s precise, powerful line-and-color artwork—a mix of vignettes and full-page spreads, some recalling classic Northern European art—depicts people, landscapes, monuments, transport vehicles, local animals, and the inside of a science lab in the late 1950s. Details from the text are artistically integrated, like a world map and the painted flags that record the countries the mobile labs visited. While the tone is overall positive, Rentetzi acknowledges the complex political undercurrents of the project, noting that the U.S. government sought to make scientists around the world dependent on American technology, thus giving the U.S. an edge over the Soviet Union.
An enthralling historical account. (more information on the mobile labs) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798890632456
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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