A revealing glimpse of a gifted poet whose impassioned works and acts are sure to capture the imaginations of young readers.
The rags-to-riches story of one of the most popular poets of the Jazz Age has caught the eye of adult biographers repeatedly, and here Goddu brings Millay’s action-packed life to light for young readers.
Named in honor of Manhattan’s St. Vincent’s Hospital, Edna St. Vincent Millay early on came to be known as Vincent. Goddu takes great care in highlighting the formative trials and successes of Vincent’s abbreviated childhood and precocious development as a poet. The eldest of three girls raised in rural Maine by a caring, hardworking, and often absent single mother, Vincent found herself having to parent her siblings by age 12. Goddu convincingly shows how Vincent’s adventurous spirit and love for nature—not to mention the spotlight—arose from her hardscrabble, largely unsupervised upbringing, leading her to enter poetry contests at a young age as “E. Vincent Millay” and have the confidence to deliver a recitation that would earn her a tuition-free ride to Vassar just a decade before winning the Pulitzer Prize. In addition to showcasing Millay’s path-breaking feminism alongside her playfulness and tireless work ethic, Goddu’s well-researched account produces an illuminating snapshot of the uphill battle female writers faced trying to earn a living in the first half of the 20th century.
A revealing glimpse of a gifted poet whose impassioned works and acts are sure to capture the imaginations of young readers. (timeline, notes, bibliography) (Biography. 10-16)Pub Date: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61373-172-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
A tragic, gripping, and inspiring story.
In 1979, 11-year-old Norman was the only survivor of a plane crash in Southern California: This is his true story.
This book for middle-grade readers, co-authored with Kiely, covers much of the same material as Ollestad’s 2009 memoir for adults, Crazy for the Storm. Flying in a four-seater Cessna with his father, his father’s girlfriend, Sandra, and the pilot, Norman was excited to reach Big Bear to receive his ski-racing trophy. (As a vivid example of his busy childhood, they’d driven the 300 miles there yesterday for Norman to compete—and then driven back to Topanga Canyon in the evening for his hockey game.) But the plane tragically crashed on a mountain in a blizzard. Nothing is sugarcoated; readers encounter graphic descriptions of the pilot and Norman’s dad, who died, and Sandra, who suffered a gaping head wound. Eventually accepting that he had to figure things out on his own, Norman drew upon the extreme training his father had put his “Boy Wonder” through—training that had bullied Norman into facing difficult physical and mental challenges that he feared and resented. During his trek to safety, Norman performed incredible mental and physical feats and encouraged the barely functioning Sandra—until she fell to her death. Norman’s conflicted feelings about the father he’d both idolized and resented are nuanced and satisfyingly resolved. Readers who enjoy nail-biting wilderness stories will be riveted.
A tragic, gripping, and inspiring story. (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780374392611
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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