Brave and heartrending.
A master picture-book artist introduces quite young readers to two astonishing heroes of the world born in Pakistan.
Iqbal Masih was only 12 in 1995 when he was shot and killed while riding his bike. He’d spent several of his young years as a bonded slave in a carpet factory before he escaped to become an international advocate for the freedom of children. Malala Yousafzai began her public advocacy for the rights of girls to education before she was in her teens. Malala, who survived being shot by the Taliban gunman who boarded her school van, continues to use her voice for justice. Winter, in impressive command of the page with her spare text and calm, rich, digitally rendered art, offers this difficult material unapologetically. As she often does, she distills the stories to their essences, conveying with very few words the fearlessness and the hope wielded by these children. Iqbal’s and Malala’s stories are presented as two separate tales, back to back. In a poignant double-page spread at the middle, edge-to-edge art shows each child atop a mountain. Iqbal's kite string has just left his hand; his kite drifts away toward Malala. Malala's kite string is still in her hand, and her kite reaches toward Iqbal. No source notes or bibliography are offered; author’s notes on each child summarize the facts.
Brave and heartrending. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2294-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The simplicity of the narrative and its playful emphasis on and repetition of what is “BIG” seem at odds with the grim...
A childhood love of horses translates into an adult career devoted to learning about and promoting protection for African elephants.
For 40 years, field scientist Cynthia Moss has lived with and studied the elephants of Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Buzzeo, who focused on a fictional elephant calf in My Bibi Always Remembers, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka (2014), here introduces a real-life elephant scientist who has combined her passion for studying these big animals with activism around the world for a big cause: banning the sale of ivory. Choosing details young readers will understand, the author moves quickly from a description of Moss’ early life to an explanation of how she came to live in Kenya. She goes on to give examples of the kinds of questions the scientist wondered about and what she learned about elephant family behavior. Colorful illustrations, done with colored pencils, acrylic paint, watercolor, ink, and collage and bordered with appropriate designs, add interesting details. There are wide-angled scenes and close-ups of elephants in the wild. But this narrative has a dark side. Many, many elephants have been killed for the ivory in their tusks. The image of an elephant “lying lifeless in the beating sun” and men loading its bloody tusk into a truck filled with other bloody tusks will distress readers of any age.
The simplicity of the narrative and its playful emphasis on and repetition of what is “BIG” seem at odds with the grim reality of ivory poaching, making this a book that may have a hard time finding an audience. (endnote, further reading, additional sources) (Picture book/biography. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8037-4090-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
First steps on the long and winding road.
Four Liverpool lads determinedly dope out how to play their instruments and then make beautiful music together just in time for…Beatlemania!
Reich tells the oft-told tale one Beatle at a time—starting with John and ending with Ringo. She covers working-class origins, early love of rock ’n’ roll, learning how to play through trial and error (“[John] didn’t give a fig about wrong notes”), the formation of the Quarrymen, the watershed gig in Germany, and the release of the first singles. Gustavson (Sebastian Robertson’s Rock and Roll Highway: The Robbie Robertson Story, 2014) keeps his focus on the Fab Four (Stuart Sutcliffe, Pete Best, and “Mr. Martin” get name checks but no face time) and traces their visual transformation from scruffy amateurs to dapper moppets. Reich leaves them not only poised for greatness, having “poured hundreds of hours of sweat, love, and teenage energy into their music,” but also “best of friends.” It’s an idealized picture, especially considering what came after; Kathleen Krull’s The Beatles Were Fab (And They Were Funny), illustrated by Stacey Innerst (2013), covers the group’s entire career, albeit in a nostalgic vein. Still, young readers may be intrigued by this grand and archetypal tale, and the closing cornucopia of Beatles books, audio, video, and websites will also help to fill in the blanks.
First steps on the long and winding road. (author’s note, endnotes, glossary) (Picture book/biography. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9458-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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