An exuberant fictionalized rendering of designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s early life.
Maclear and Morstad (Julia, Child, 2014) again join forces, here exploring what sparked the firecracker of creativity in “Schiap” (pronounced “Skap”), an indomitable little white girl from Rome who went on to become one of the 20th century’s most influential and radical fashion designers. Maclear’s intimate, first-person, present-tense account begins with how the young Schiap internalized her parents’ affection for her beautiful older sister and their palpable disappointment in their less-attractive second child. It centers on an episode made famous in Schiaparelli’s autobiography—namely, when, around age 7, she was inspired to try to make herself more beautiful by planting flower seeds in her “ears, mouth, and nose” that then had to be removed by “two doctors.” Says Schiap: “My plan flops, but a different kind of seed is planted… / …a seed of wild imagination.” Here, as throughout the story, Morstad’s delicate, detailed mixed-media illustrations masterfully expand on the text, showing a full-page close-up of the doe-eyed Schiap’s face dwarfed by a dazzling garland of flowers, some of which are pointedly colored in what the adult Schiaparelli would later re-create as “shocking pink,” which set the 1931 fashion world “spin[ning] with panic and delight.”
Not only a gorgeous portrayal of this 20th-century creative genius, but an empowering tale encouraging readers to “dare to be different.” (author and illustrator’s note, endnotes, bibliography) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-244761-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
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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
Categories: CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S HISTORY
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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
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