Lied's first book retells a family story that brings home the reality of the Great Depression. The narrator, pictured as a young girl with pigtails writing next to a family photo album, tells the true story of her grandparents, Clarence and Agnes, who were young parents when the Depression first hit. When Clarence lost his job, the family lost their house in Iowa. Clarence and Agnes borrowed a car and drove to Idaho to dig potatoes. By day they worked for the farmer; by night, with his permission, they dug potatoes from the picked-over fields for themselves. The work only lasted two weeks, but they arrived back in Iowa with the car stuffed to the ceiling with spuds, a supply that carried them through to better times. Ernst supplies her trademark illustrations, framed on pages the same shade as brown paper bags, and suggesting snapshots in an album; the spare prose becomes captions to the events unfolding in each scene. This could be a useful opener for encouraging children to explore their own family histories, especially when they learn that the author was eight years old when she wrote down her story for a bookstore writing contest. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-7922-3521-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997
The ancient Egyptians are given an enthusiastic, if wildly oversimplified, treatment in this new outing from Gibbons. Focusing as much on their lives as on their spectacular burials, the text and accompanying watercolors (handsomely framed with patterned bands) depict happy Egyptians planting, celebrating, mummifying, and burying. The lure of ancient Egypt is a strong one, and it’s not unreasonable to want to bring a book on the subject to primary graders—but it’s a highly complex subject, and to tackle everything in one picture book is a tall order that leads to such unsupportable statements as, “Everyone cared greatly how they looked.” Such categorical pronouncements and generalizations (readers are led to believe that all pharaohs were buried in pyramids) follow one upon the other with no reference to the archaeological work that has revealed such details to the modern world. Readers are better served by works that take a narrower focus, such as Aliki’s classic Mummies Made in Egypt (1979) or Meredith Hooper’s graceful and poetic Who Built the Pyramid? (2001). (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-316-30928-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Rodney of the Delaware Colony traveled from his home to Philadelphia, a distance of 80 miles, in the stormy July weather of 1776. It was a race so that he might arrive to vote for the Declaration. The Delaware delegates were tied, one for, one against. Members of the convention knew that the letter to King George III and to the colonists must show that all the colonies supported it or it would not demonstrate their strong determination. Cheripko, aided by Lippincott’s dramatic watercolors, provides some background on Rodney and on the situations leading to the Declaration. The ride is tense throughout, with the fate of the future nation hanging on his vote. The description of his facial cancer—voting yes meant he couldn’t go to England for help—adds a dimension to the man and his ride. The story concentrates on his trip, but manages to convey the drama of this pivotal moment in American history. Fascinating. (sources, suggested readings, index) (Nonfiction. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-59078-065-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004
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