A thoughtful, thorough reference.
Blending stories, history, facts, and photos, this resource offers a contemporary exploration of Chinese New Year.
With cozy memories of her own childhood celebrations, Chinese-Canadian Lee successfully sets the tone—the text provides information, but it also acknowledges the very personal aspects of holidays and traditions. A fairly coherent narrative follows, moving from origins and mythologies, through key historical moments, to discussions of how it is celebrated today, worldwide. Interspersed throughout are “CNY Facts,” quotes from famous Asians, child-friendly recipes, personal narratives, and an effective mix of scene-setting images and family photos. The package could be overwhelming if readers attempt to read from cover to cover. More likely, they will focus on specific chapters, if conducting research for an assignment, or enjoy browsing the discrete sections. A few quibbles: in a slightly awkward dance to cover China’s modern history and provide context, Lee uses vague indictments that just hint at actual brutality (“several million more people who had opposed Mao’s decisions died from violence, often because of the Red Guards”). Readers would also benefit from more rigorous citations than are provided in the general reference/resource list. The Canadians featured seem to have been selected arbitrarily and are, oddly, adults reflecting on memories rather than children. Still, Lee capably conveys the diverse, dynamic nature of this holiday, from past to present to future.
A thoughtful, thorough reference. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1126-3
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Essential.
A measured corrective to pervasive myths about what is often referred to as the “first Thanksgiving.”
Contextualizing them within a Native perspective, Newell (Passamaquoddy) touches on the all-too-familiar elements of the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving and its origins and the history of English colonization in the territory now known as New England. In addition to the voyage and landfall of the Mayflower, readers learn about the Doctrine of Discovery that arrogated the lands of non-Christian peoples to European settlers; earlier encounters between the Indigenous peoples of the region and Europeans; and the Great Dying of 1616-1619, which emptied the village of Patuxet by 1620. Short, two- to six-page chapters alternate between the story of the English settlers and exploring the complex political makeup of the region and the culture, agriculture, and technology of the Wampanoag—all before covering the evolution of the holiday. Refreshingly, the lens Newell offers is a Native one, describing how the Wampanoag and other Native peoples received the English rather than the other way around. Key words ranging from estuary to discover are printed in boldface in the narrative and defined in a closing glossary. Nelson (a member of the Leech Lake Band of Minnesota Chippewa) contributes soft line-and-color illustrations of the proceedings. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Essential. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-72637-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care.
In 1977, the oil carrier Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into a formerly pristine Alaskan ocean inlet, killing millions of birds, animals, and fish. Despite a cleanup, crude oil is still there.
The Winters foretold the destructive powers of the atomic bomb allusively in The Secret Project (2017), leaving the actuality to the backmatter. They make no such accommodations to young audiences in this disturbing book. From the dark front cover, on which oily blobs conceal a seabird, to the rescuer’s sad face on the back, the mother-son team emphasizes the disaster. A relatively easy-to-read and poetically heightened text introduces the situation. Oil is pumped from the Earth “all day long, all night long, / day after day, year after year” in “what had been unspoiled land, home to Native people // and thousands of caribou.” The scale of extraction is huge: There’s “a giant pipeline” leading to “enormous ships.” Then, crash. Rivers of oil gush out over three full-bleed wordless pages. Subsequent scenes show rocks, seabirds, and sea otters covered with oil. Finally, 30 years later, animals have returned to a cheerful scene. “But if you lift a rock… // oil / seeps / up.” For an adult reader, this is heartbreaking. How much more difficult might this be for an animal-loving child?
Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 9-12)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3077-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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