Bold, black wood-block prints turn this memorable book about the life of a slave into a work of art. African-inspired, the detailed ebony designs printed on tan paper draw readers into Jacobs's life as a slave in North Carolina and her eventual escape (after hiding for seven years in her grandmother's tiny attic) to the North. Despite her suffering at the hands of her owners, Jacobs never became discouraged; she was taught to be independent by her ``gentle mother and proud father.'' Fleischner (The Inuit, 1995, etc.), basing her work on Jacobs's 1861 autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, writes with great empathy for her subject, and doesn't avoid difficult topics, e.g., the sexual abuse of slave women by their owners is sensitively portrayed. Readers will be introduced to one of the paradoxes in the life of a slave: the desire for freedom. ``In fleeing, [slaves] often left behind the only people they loved to go to a place where they knew no one and could trust no one.'' This is a well-written biography that also sheds light on one of America's darkest and most bitter eras. (bibliography) (Biography. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-7613-0111-9
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
Macdonald (First Facts About the Ancient Romans, 1997, etc.) attempts to explain past history through the experiences of children from various cultures and time periods, noting that the details of their lives did not always merit recording or preserving: “They had little money and hardly any power, so few writers or artists thought it worthwhile to record their lives.” Every spread, arranged roughly chronologically, describes a different topic or culture, e.g., “Ancient Egypt,” “Toys and Games,” “The Children’s Crusade,” “Benin,” “The French Revolution,” etc. A sidebar covers a particular child from that place and time, among them, Princess Amat al-Aziz of Baghdad, a.d. 758, who “had the deepest desire to do good”; Egil Skallagrimsson, a young Icelander who killed his playmate at age six; Nathan Field, an actor with Shakespeare’s troupe; and Anne Frank, who may be the most famous child of WWII, an era otherwise given sparse treatment. Full-color drawings by five artists, historical photographs, and thumb-sized world maps accompany a text that runs between understatement and exaggeration; Macdonald’s idea is certainly a good one, but it may be that the coverage, attempting uniformity where none exists, is simply too uneven. (chronology, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81378-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Mann (The Great Wall, 1997, etc.) offers the older end of the picture-book set a concrete, engaging narrative on another of the man-made wonders of the world. Opening her tale with the failure of the French, under Ferdinand de Lesseps, to construct their own canal in Panama, Mann quickly moves into the details of President Teddy Roosevelt’s obsession with the project; he broke international law by encouraging and aiding Panama’s rebellion for independence in 1903. The resulting treaty—though unfair to Panama—gave Roosevelt all the leverage he needed, and despite yellow fever and malaria, America soon poured thousands of workers and millions of dollars into this enterprise. While there were excellent living conditions for American workers in Panama, those conditions were not duplicated for Caribbean laborers: “Black Caribbeans suffered a higher rate of death from accidents and disease than any other group.” Rangel’s lavish full-color illustrations capture the immense scale of the canal’s construction, from the damming of the Chagres River to the construction of the locks on a four-page, fold-out spread. Mann and Rangel have created an exceptional resource for the classroom, as well as an epic piece of storytelling. (maps, diagrams, index) (Picture book/nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-9650493-4-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Firefly
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1998
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