This informative history of modern skyscrapers may not attract many young readers. Beginning with the pyramids, Severance (Einstein, 1999, etc.) traces the history of tall buildings worldwide with particular emphasis on the US. He links technical advances, inventions, economic conditions, and social forces. For example, three factors were necessary for the development of multistory buildings: Otis invented the safety-brake, steam-powered elevator in the 1850s; plumbing technology permitted installation of bathrooms in upper floors; and the waterfront area of New York City needed more office space. Short biographical information about the lives and accomplishments of the inventors and the builders put the buildings in a historical context. Severance describes many of the problems related to these huge buildings. At the Sears Tower in Chicago, it took half an hour for some people to get from street level to their offices. The Hancock Tower in Boston had glass windows and doors pop out in high winds. Cost-cutting at the Citicorp building in New York City caused a major reconstruction to avoid building collapse in a hurricane. St. Peter’s church built into the Citicorp building created major design problems. Severance describes the innovative construction techniques to overcome the problems but unfortunately neglects to mention the important work of sculptor Louise Nevelson in the interior design of the church. A bibliography and index are helpful. Words are descriptive, but interesting illustrations would have brought the text alive. Black-and-white exterior images of buildings do not do it. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1492-2
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
“Hear, and listen well, my friends, and I will tell you a tale that has been told for a thousand years and more.” It’s not exactly a rarely told tale, either, though this complete rendition is distinguished by both handsome packaging and a prose narrative that artfully mixes alliterative language reminiscent of the original, with currently topical references to, for instance, Grendel’s “endless terror raids,” and the “holocaust at Heorot.” Along with being printed on heavy stock and surrounded by braided borders, the text is paired to colorful scenes featuring a small human warrior squaring off with a succession of grimacing but not very frightening monsters in battles marked by but a few discreet splashes of blood. Morpurgo puts his finger on the story’s enduring appeal—“we still fear the evil that stalks out there in the darkness . . . ”—but offers a version unlikely to trouble the sleep of more sensitive readers or listeners. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-3206-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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