Casual, occasionally to a fault, but broad of scope and chock full of juicy role models and anti-models.
Profiles of ancient and early modern rulers historically adjudged “Great” or…not so much.
O’Sullivan chooses her 25 entries from a pre-20th-century but worldwide roster—including figures from Indian, Persian, and Mayan realms and from Hawaii, Madagascar, Korea, and Morocco as well as diverse European countries. Separating “Greats” from “Terribles” and mixing in eight women, she leads off with Pharaoh Hatshepsut and concludes with “Bloody Mary” Tudor and Sultan Ismail “the Bloodthirsty.” Along with tucking in side notes for each subject on broader legacies and on contemporary events elsewhere in the world, she appends lists offering two dozen more “Worthies” and “Notably Notorious” to check out. Her profiles, though brief, are invitingly informal (for Hatshepsut, “pyramids were already so last millennium”) and focus as much on positive or negative character traits as on deeds and misdeeds. She commends the tolerance of Cyrus the Great for other religions and cultures in his empire, for instance, and Süleyman the Magnificent for not “micromanaging” his appointees. She also repeatedly points out that even the best sometimes went wrong, and vice versa. On the other hand, writing that the suspension of church services by “Bad” King John was unpopular because it took away a “ ‘fun’ thing to do” is pretty superficial. Lugo supplies formally posed upper-body portraits of the smiling or scowling subjects.
Casual, occasionally to a fault, but broad of scope and chock full of juicy role models and anti-models. (index) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7624-9661-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
The life of Manjiro Nakahama, also known as John Mung, makes an amazing story: shipwrecked as a young fisherman for months on a remote island, rescued by an American whaler, he became the first Japanese resident of the US. Then, after further adventures at sea and in the California gold fields, he returned to Japan where his first-hand knowledge of America and its people earned him a central role in the modernization of his country after its centuries of peaceful isolation had ended. Expanding a passage from her Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun (1985, Newbery Honor), Blumberg not only delivers an absorbing tale of severe hardships and startling accomplishments, but also takes side excursions to give readers vivid pictures of life in mid-19th-century Japan, aboard a whaler, and amidst the California Gold Rush. The illustrations, a generous mix of contemporary photos and prints with Manjiro’s own simple, expressive drawings interspersed, are at least as revealing. Seeing a photo of Commodore Perry side by side with a Japanese artist’s painted portrait, or strange renditions of a New England town and a steam train, based solely on Manjiro’s verbal descriptions, not only captures the unique flavor of Japanese art, but points up just how high were the self-imposed barriers that separated Japan from the rest of the world. Once again, Blumberg shows her ability to combine high adventure with vivid historical detail to open a window onto the past. (source note) (Biography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-17484-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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