A hopeful call to action.
More than two dozen individual and collective profiles sing the praises of young activists in the U.S. along with a handful from around the world.
Well-known activists like Greta Thunberg and the Parkland Survivors join names worthy of more recognition, like menstrual equality campaigner and author Nadya Okamoto and transgender activist Sage Grace Dolan-Sandrino, in this collection of short biographies. Each four-page treatment features a bold, bright portrait and enthusiastic text exhorting readers to take action in areas that matter to them. The subjects all belong to Generation Z, people between the ages of 12 and 22, and the work of those like gun reform advocate Thandiwe Abdullah and Helena Gualinga (Kichwa), who rallies people to protect Indigenous rights and fight climate change, makes for inspiring reading, especially alongside well-chosen quotes from the subjects themselves. The group is diverse in race and sexuality, though the narrative assumes a White middle-class reader with ready internet access, directly addressed as someone who finds it easy to take their rights for granted. It’s refreshing to see corporate actions blamed for climate change instead of individual choices—but frustrating that a facing paragraph then recommends only individual, not collective, responses. One chapter discusses mental illness, but physical disability is notably missing. The absence of Mari Copeny, Little Miss Flint, is jarring considering the paragraphs spent on Jaden Smith’s activism for Flint.
A hopeful call to action. (about the author and illustrator) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5248-6068-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
More story than study, the book provides an accessible introduction to Goodall’s, Fossey’s and Galdikas’ lives and work.
Veteran science writer Ottaviani (Feynman, 2011, etc.) teams up with illustration newcomer Wicks in this semifictionalized overview of the “Trimates,” three women primatologists championed by Louis Leakey.
The book opens with Goodall’s cozy first-person account of her childhood dreams of studying animals in Africa, her recruitment by Leakey, the establishment of her long-term chimpanzee study in Nigeria and her key discoveries regarding chimpanzee behavior. The narrative then shifts from Goodall to Leakey’s other protégées, Fossey and Galdikas, and their influential research on, respectively, gorillas and orangutans. Fossey and Galdikas also tell their own tales in distinct, often funny, voices. Wicks’ cheerful drawings complement the women’s stories by highlighting their humorous moments. However, the simplicity of Wicks’ rounded figures and flat backgrounds make the panels documenting primate behavior less effective than they could be. Another weakness is the text’s tendency to summarize when more scientific and biographical detail would be welcome. For example, the final chapter covers the later stages of the Trimates’ careers but only briefly addresses the circumstances surrounding Fossey’s death. Readers looking for more substantial biographies or science should seek out other sources after whetting their appetites here.
More story than study, the book provides an accessible introduction to Goodall’s, Fossey’s and Galdikas’ lives and work. (afterword, bibliography) (Graphic novel. 10-14)Pub Date: June 11, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59643-865-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: First Second/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
Readers wishing for a more restrained, neutral, journalistic treatment should stick with Wilborn Hampton’s Kennedy...
Readers coming cold to this book about the assassination of John F. Kennedy will learn a great deal about the crime but much less about the man who died.
Swanson devotes a scant 20 pages to the issues that dominated Kennedy’s presidency before describing “the Kennedy mystique.” In his telling, John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy come through as very human figures (albeit ones without weaknesses), who cast a bright light on national, global and political landscapes. His telling is almost hagiographic. The assassination and its aftermath occupy the heart of the book, the writing often straining to pull at heartstrings. This is particularly evident when describing Jackie Kennedy’s actions before and during the funeral. Of course she was bereft—but strong enough to plan the entire observance down to the eternal flame on the grave. As for Lee Harvey Oswald, Swanson asks many gratuitous questions about what made him kill before admitting that neither he nor others know. Why ask? In the epilogue, Swanson waxes purple, stating that “Oswald struck from the shadows. Then he robbed us of the rest of the story.” Well, what about Jack Ruby? Although the narrative verges on mythmaking, the many, many photographs and diagrams give the volume some value.
Readers wishing for a more restrained, neutral, journalistic treatment should stick with Wilborn Hampton’s Kennedy Assassinated: The World Mourns (1997). (source notes, further reading, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-49007-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
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