Cesar Chavez, like his heroes Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, believed in non-violent change. He fought ceaselessly for the rights of migrant farm workers to have a decent living conditions and a living wage. Krull does not offer a birth-to-death biography, instead focusing on the influences of his early years, the organization of the National Farm Workers Association, and the first contract with the grape growers. She portrays Chavez as a quiet, patient, strong-willed man who believed implicitly in his “causa” and worked tirelessly for his people. She presents additional events in his life and the circumstances of his death in an author’s note. Morales uses bright acrylic colors that flow across the pages, mirroring the constant movement in Chavez’s life. The overall look of the work is reminiscent of a Diego Rivera mural. Krull and Morales introduce a long-neglected figure from recent history to a new audience in an informative, eye-catching manner. A notable achievement. (Biography. 8-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-15-201437-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2003
This slim collection of actual writings of American girls from colonial times to the mid-20th century contains some real gems that are sure to inspire readers to learn more about history. Their first insight will be that girls who lived long ago weren’t really that different from their modern counterparts. They played games and played jokes on one another, were interested in boys, knew that their teachers and parents didn’t understand them, were picked on by big brothers and sisters, and worried about what the future held for them. Some of the entries are funny, some serious, but all are informative and entertaining, augmented by the co- authors’ introductory notes for every entry and black-and-white photographs of the spirited and spunky girls who wrote such wonderful descriptions of their lives. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-82083-6
Page Count: 103
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
While Josephine Poole and Angela Barrett’s Joan of Arc (1998) focused on Joan as a saint, this spirited but reverent telling emphasizes Joan as a hero. In the little village of DomrÇmy, Joan did not learn to read or write, but she listened to stories of the saints’ great deeds, worked with her parents, and aided the sick. When St. Michael the Archangel first appeared to her in a great light, she was 13; he told her she would save France, and the people supported her, outfitting her with horse and armor, and a white banner with the golden lilies that symbolized the French king. All the highlights of Joan’s story are elegantly recounted here: her recognition of the king hidden in the crowd, her victory at OrlÇans, Charles’s coronation, her capture, abandonment, trial, and death by burning at the stake. Rayevsky’s drypoint and etching illustrations use the muted colors and sepia backgrounds of old prints; the simple, sinuous line and stylized faces are particularly evocative. His visual trope of a flowerlike flame in the fireplace of Joan’s home is startlingly recreated in the final image of Joan at the stake. (Picture book/biography. 6-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1424-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
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