Timely and relevant.
The duo behind Banned Book (2023) team up for another censorship-focused tale.
Winter opens by noting that in 15th-century Germany, “there was a book that once changed the world: the first major book in Europe to be printed on a printing press.” That book was the Bible. More books followed. The author swiftly moves ahead to 1933, when “thousands upon thousands of books” were burned after being pulled from libraries by college students who were determined to get rid of “un-German” books. Winter’s straightforward text explains that many authors were blacklisted and that some moved to America, a place “where people valued freedom of speech, the right to say anything you want and write anything you want.” The story ends with a caution that this “could happen anywhere. It could even happen in America.” Winter keeps things general, not naming Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party (though they are depicted in the illustrations) until an author’s note, which provides further historical context and mentions the rise in book banning in the United States. Evoking stained glass panels or mosaics, Kelley’s art is the true star of the show. During the book burning scene, bright orange flames stand out in contrast to the otherwise mostly muted palette. Educators looking to help students draw connections between past and present examples of censorship will find this one useful.
Timely and relevant. (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9781568464114
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
A lighthearted recap of some of our oldest tales.
For her latest cartoon foray into ancient cultures, Williams concocts a brisk dash through Egyptian myth and history.
Drawing figures in traditional Egyptian style but with a more natural range of expressions and gestures, she constructs flat-planed scenes that range from small sequential strips to full-page images and even larger ones on double gatefolds. Her nine episodes begin with a creation myth, end with Cleopatra’s death and in between introduce a select set of major gods and Pharaohs. Large and small, each picture is decked with strings of hieroglyphic-like signs for atmosphere as well as side comments in dialogue balloons to go with the short, legible captions. Though she freely mixes legend and fact without distinguishing one from the other in the main going, a smaller strip running below provides a cat’s-eye view of the subject. The patterns of Egyptian daily life (“Cats are Egypt’s greatest wonder, followed by the river Nile”), how mummies were made (“Yes, we do cats, too!”), early technological advances and general cultural values receive tongue-in-cheek glosses. The colorful, briefly told stories provide nothing like a systematic overview but are easily enjoyed for themselves, and they may well leave young readers with a hankering to find out more about Isis and Horus, Zoser, Hatshepsut, Tutankhamen and the rest.
A lighthearted recap of some of our oldest tales. (map) (Picture book/folklore. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5308-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
In a boyish three-day adventure, Teedie (Roosevelt) and Johnnie (Muir) dodge, if temporarily, the confines of more formal...
Theodore Roosevelt’s 1903 trip to the western parks included a backcountry camping trip—complete with snowstorm—with John Muir in the Yosemite Wilderness and informed the president’s subsequent advocacy for national parks and monuments.
In a boyish three-day adventure, Teedie (Roosevelt) and Johnnie (Muir) dodge, if temporarily, the confines of more formal surroundings to experience firsthand the glories of the mountains and ancient forests. (You can't ever quite take the boy out of the man, and Rosenstock's use of her subjects’ childhood names evokes a sense of Neverland ebullience, even as the grownup men decided the fate of the wilderness.) The narrative is intimate and yet conveys the importance of the encounter both as a magnificent getaway for the lively president and a chance for the brilliant environmentalist to tell the trees’ side of the story. Gerstein’s depiction of the exuberant president riding off with Muir is enchantingly comical and liberating. A lovely two-page spread turns the opening to a long vertical to show the two men in the Mariposa Grove, relatively small even on horseback, surrounded by the hush and grandeur of the giant sequoias, while in another double-page scene, after a photo of the two at Glacier Point, Muir lies on his back at the edge of the canyon, demonstrating to an attentive Roosevelt how the glacier carved the deep valley below. An author’s note explains that the dialogue is imagined and reconstructed from Muir’s writing as well as from other accounts of the meeting.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3710-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
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