A deeply felt but not overwrought telling of a story that will be new to most young readers.
A reverent account of the creation of a seagoing 9/11 memorial fashioned by incorporating part of one of the fallen towers into the hull of a Navy ship.
Following a wordless, powerful sequence in which a seemingly ordinary jet flies peacefully through a cloudless sky and then directly into a tower, Nolan opens by noting that there is “something different, something special” about the seemingly ordinary USS New York. In the tragedy’s aftermath, she explains, a steel beam was pulled from the wreckage and sent to a foundry in Louisiana. There, workers melted it down, recast and shaped it, and sent it to New Orleans, where, notwithstanding the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, it was incorporated into the bow of a new ship of war. Gonzalez echoes the author’s somber, serious tone with dark scenes of ground zero, workers with shadowed faces, and views of the ship from low angles to accentuate its monumental bulk. Though Nolan goes light on names and dates, she adds a significant bit of background to the overall story of 9/11 and its enduring effects. Backmatter includes a cutaway diagram and some additional facts.
A deeply felt but not overwrought telling of a story that will be new to most young readers. (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-912-4
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Peddle debuts with a small, wordless epiphany that flows like an animated short. A low winter sun first lights a child building a snowman, then, after a gloriously starry night, returns to transform it—to melt it. Leaving most of each page untouched, Peddle assembles a minimum of accurately brushed pictorial elements for each scene: the builder; the snow figure; their lengthening shadows; the rising sun’s coruscating circle in the penultimate picture; a scatter of sticks, coal, and a carrot in the final one. Most children will still prefer The Snowy Day, but others may find layers of meaning beneath the story’s deceptive simplicity. (Picture book. 4-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32693-9
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
When a poor farmer lucks out with a turnip that grows to gigantic proportions, he uses a block and tackle just to yank the huge root from the ground, and takes it to the king. The king is duly impressed and rewards the farmer with a cart load of gold. The local squire becomes jealous of the farmer’s good fortune and takes one of his prize horses to the king, with hopes of scoring his own wagonful of gold. The king accepts the horse, and in payment, gives the squire the giant turnip. The highlight of this one-punch story is Wegner’s expressive line drawings, in which the characters’ changing emotions are aptly captured; his pen takes in every detail of the squire’s estate and the farmer’s fields. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7636-0494-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1999
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