An inspiring saga of a real-life hero.
An enslaved sailor successfully commandeers a Confederate ship and sails it to freedom.
Robert Smalls was a 23-year-old enslaved deckhand on the Confederate ship the CSS Planter when he devised a plan to emancipate himself and 15 others, including his wife and children. Smalls’ work on the ship allowed him to learn the navigation and codes needed to move through the blockaded waters surrounding Charleston, South Carolina. It was also how he discovered that the Union would accept those fleeing from slavery as contraband. Against military orders, the captain of the ship allowed White crew members to spend the night away from the ship, entrusting it to the Black sailors. Seizing the opportunity, Smalls led a dangerous escape through Confederate checkpoints by acting as the White captain. His daring resulted in the freedom of those aboard and the capture of a ship and arms for the Union. The epilogue gives more examples of Smalls’ efforts to improve the lives of his people after the Civil War, including as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. This graphic depiction of Smalls’ story successfully captures the determination of enslaved people to secure their own freedom. The colorful panels fully express the taut drama of the venture. This is the latest in the Tales of the Talented Tenth series by graphic storyteller Gill, presenting little-known tales from African American history.
An inspiring saga of a real-life hero. (bibliography) (Graphic biography. 10-16)Pub Date: May 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68275-066-7
Page Count: 158
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Dozens of spectacular Kellar posters along with a dramatic book design nicely support this well-constructed look at a...
A first-rate visual presentation accompanies a fascinating biography of the first dean of the Society of American Magicians, a man Houdini regarded as a mentor.
The son of German immigrant parents, Harry Keller (later Kellar) lived in his hometown of Erie, Penn., only until he was 10, when he hopped aboard a train bound for Cleveland, Ohio, in 1859. He apprenticed to a performing magician a couple of years later. Kellar’s career in magic and illusion led him to South America, England and Australia before he achieved recognition and success in the United States. Kellar’s meticulous attention to detail in the building of his illusions and in the staging of his performances led to his success. Traveling magic shows and established theatrical illusionists were a widespread entertainment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, incorporating aspects of spiritualism (Kellar demonstrated that he could replicate anything a medium could do) and mechanical wonders like automatons in their performances. Kellar and his team borrowed from other well-known performers, and he worked to polish and improve the illusions to perfection. Few secrets of the illusions are revealed here, but Jarrow makes it clear that it was Kellar’s art that made them seem like real magic.
Dozens of spectacular Kellar posters along with a dramatic book design nicely support this well-constructed look at a consummate showman. (timeline, bibliography, annotated sources) (Biography. 10-14)Pub Date: June 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59078-865-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
A feast for readers whose eyes are (or should be) on the prize, in a volume as well-turned-out as the dapper W.E.B. Dubois,...
Addressing the appetites of readers “hungry for role models,” this presents compellingly oratorical pictures of the lives and characters of 10 African-American men who exemplify a “birthright of excellence.”
Each of the chronologically arranged chapters opens with a tone-setting praise song and a commanding close-up portrait. From Benjamin Banneker, whose accusatory letter to slaveholder Thomas Jefferson “socked it straight / to the secretary of state,” to Barack Obama, who “turned Yes, we can! into a celebration call,” the gallery is composed of familiar names. Instead of rehashing well-chewed biographical fodder, though, the author dishes up incidents that shaped and tested her subjects’ moral and intellectual fiber along with achievements that make her chosen few worth knowing and emulating. Carping critics may quibble about the occasional arguable fact and an implication that Rosa Parks’ protest was spontaneous, but like Malcolm X, Pinkney has such “a hot-buttered way with words” that her arguments are as convincing as they are forceful, and her prose, rich as it is in rolling cadences and internal rhymes, never waxes mannered or preachy.
A feast for readers whose eyes are (or should be) on the prize, in a volume as well-turned-out as the dapper W.E.B. Dubois, who was “more handsome than a fresh-cut paycheck.” (timeline, index, lists of recommended reading and viewing) (Collective biography. 10-15)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4231-4257-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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