Captures the excitement of space travel while creating a warm portrait of an innovative explorer.
What makes a hero?
This lively and informative selection presents a thorough overview of Glenn’s life: his childhood; attempts to learn to fly; support from his wife, Annie, who herself dealt with stuttering and became a speech pathologist; the thousands of flying hours he clocked; military service during World War II; life as an astronaut; subsequent political career; and flight at age 77 as the oldest man to fly in space. With all this, Krull focuses on his accomplishments as an astronaut, in particular on his Project Mercury mission on the Friendship 7, when he became the first American to orbit the Earth during the United States' space race with the former Soviet Union. The energetic text thoroughly describes Glenn’s experiences while flying while realistic, sweeping oils offer a sense of space and capture some of the bliss Glenn must have experienced. Tales of his less-than-successful endeavors (his failed presidential bid, for example) are not mentioned, which seems a lost opportunity to discuss how setbacks are an inevitable part of success. Regardless, this vivid portrayal is full of exhilaration and suspense and will doubtlessly create new fans and inspire or increase a love of space exploration.
Captures the excitement of space travel while creating a warm portrait of an innovative explorer. (timeline, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-274714-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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