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HENRI'S SCISSORS

Name: HENRI'S SCISSORS
Author: Jeanette Winter
ISBN: 978-1-4424-6484-1

by Jeanette Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 27, 2013

This soaringly sentimental resolution notwithstanding, the book is a charming introduction to a widely reproduced,...

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In her extensive picture-book–biography oeuvre, Winter has proven to be particularly attuned to selecting the just-right elements of her subjects’ complex lives while making them both accessible to and readily understood by young children.

Here she limns the major biographical details of Matisse’s long life: A French law student recovering and on bed rest after an appendectomy is given a paint set; he discovers his true calling, abandons the law, moves to Paris and embarks on a long career as a member of the Fauvist movement. Many years later, once again bedridden and frail, he begins the final and perhaps most enduring stage of his work. Winter both describes and employs Matisse’s signature, late-career technique of brilliantly colored, hand-painted, cut-paper compositions. She enlivens the simple text with liberal yet judicious quotes from Matisse’s letters and comments from contemporaries. This is a beautifully designed book that will certainly connect with readers, although the closing spreads may be too poetically obscure for the intended school-age audience. Winter writes that at Matisse’s death, “the rainbow of shapes cradled the old artist and carried him into the heavens.” The book’s final question, “Are some of the stars we see at night coming to us from Henri’s scissors?” seems forced.

This soaringly sentimental resolution notwithstanding, the book is a charming introduction to a widely reproduced, child-friendly artist, one that children will assuredly encounter and affirmingly embrace. (author’s note) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4424-6484-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 21, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SNOW MAN
by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter

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THE LITTLE OWL & THE BIG TREE
by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter

- BOOK REVIEW
SISTER CORITA'S WORDS AND SHAPES
by Jeanette Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter

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MANJHI MOVES A MOUNTAIN

by Nancy Churnin ; illustrated by Danny Popovici ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017

Heartening.

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One determined man brings two villages together with a hammer, chisel, and an iron will.

Deep in the heart of India, a mighty mountain separates two villages. Manjhi lives on one side, where nothing grows. On the other, rice and wheat flourish. The people there are affluent, while Manjhi’s village struggles with hunger. Manjhi climbs to the top of the mountain to ponder this problem. When he throws a stone, it triggers a sprinkle of powder, which gives him an idea. Manjhi trades his trio of goats for a hammer and chisel. Hurrying back to the top of the mountain, he positions the chisel and strikes it with the hammer. Powdered rock and tiny chips spray. He continues until he’s exhausted, but he’s also filled with hope. Even though people tell him he’s “crazy,” day after day Manjhi returns to the mountain. After a year, Majhi is a little stronger, and the hole he has made a little deeper. He perseveres and, when he returns to his task each day, notices that others have continued his work. It takes 22 years, but Manjhi lives to see the day that two villages become one, sharing water, hopes, and dreams. Churnin’s prose has an elegance appropriate for her inspiring tale, which is based on a true story. Popovich’s double-page illustrations use a warm palette and are nicely composed.

Heartening. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-939547-34-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Creston

Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

- BOOK REVIEW
VALENTINES FOR ALL
by Nancy Churnin ; illustrated by Monika Róza Wisniewska

- BOOK REVIEW
MAMA'S YEAR WITH CANCER
by Nancy Churnin & Shayna Vincent ; illustrated by Wazza Pink

- BOOK REVIEW
LILA AND THE JACK-O'-LANTERN
by Nancy Churnin ; illustrated by Anneli Bray

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NELSON MANDELA

by Kadir Nelson & illustrated by Kadir Nelson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2013

A beautifully designed book that will resonate with children and the adults who wisely share it with them.

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An inspirational ode to the life of the great South African leader by an award-winning author and illustrator.

Mandela’s has been a monumental life, a fact made clear on the front cover, which features an imposing, full-page portrait. The title is on the rear cover. His family gave him the Xhosa name Rolihlahla, but his schoolteacher called him Nelson. Later, he was sent to study with village elders who told him stories about his beautiful and fertile land, which was conquered by European settlers with more powerful weapons. Then came apartheid, and his protests, rallies and legal work for the cause of racial equality led to nearly 30 years of imprisonment followed at last by freedom for Mandela and for all South Africans. “The ancestors, / The people, / The world, / Celebrated.” Nelson’s writing is spare, poetic, and grounded in empathy and admiration. His oil paintings on birch plywood are muscular and powerful. Dramatic moments are captured in shifting perspectives; a whites-only beach is seen through a wide-angle lens, while faces behind bars and faces beaming in final victory are masterfully portrayed in close-up.

A beautifully designed book that will resonate with children and the adults who wisely share it with them. (author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)