A charming collection of memories and stories that will encourage readers to follow in Seton’s footsteps and engage with the...
Knox’s engaging memoir introduces a famed British naturalist to a new generation of children.
Plagued by health problems that doctors blamed on the Los Angeles climate, the 6-year-old author went to live with relatives in New Mexico in the 1930s. She moved in with her aunt Julie and her uncle Ernest Thompson Seton. Known only as “Granddaddy” to the author, Seton was a conservationist, writer, and artist who played a vital role in the founding of the Boy Scouts of America and published numerous well-known children’s stories. For three years, the author experienced a world of nature, art, stories, and poetry. She soaked up Seton’s nature tales and made the great outdoors her playground. She also learned to track animals and identify a variety of native plants. Throughout the year, she traveled with the Setons on lecture tours and field trips, visiting pueblos, mines, and caves. During the summers, she attended Childervil, one of Seton’s camps designed specifically for children. Knox’s recollections of the camp read like a nostalgic movie script, with days occupied by hiking, crafts, and campfire stories. This memoir aims to convey Seton’s beliefs and accomplishments to a young audience rather than take a critical look at the man or his legacy. The book is beautifully designed, bursting with photographs as well as illustrations by Seton himself. Its bright colors and short chapters will be perfect for young readers, who will be drawn into the life and work of the celebrated conservationist. Knox intersperses her own memories with selections from Seton’s classic stories, including his famous account of Lobo the wolf from his 1898 book Wild Animals I Have Known. She also weaves educational elements, such as the history of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and its early inhabitants, into her tales of her explorations. Along the way, she relates lessons about the importance of respecting nature and its creatures. (The book also includes a foreword by the late folksinger Pete Seeger.)
Pub Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1935204534
Page Count: 122
Publisher: Langdon Street Press
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy.
Through the author’s own childhood diary entries, a seventh grader details her inner life before and after 9/11.
Alyssa’s diary entries start in September 2000, in the first week of her seventh grade year. She’s 11 and dealing with typical preteen concerns—popularity and anxiety about grades—along with other things more particular to her own life. She’s shuffling between Queens and Manhattan to share time between her divorced parents and struggling with thick facial hair and classmates who make her feel like she’s “not a whole person” due to her mixed White and Puerto Rican heritage. Alyssa is endlessly earnest and awkward as she works up the courage to talk to her crush, Alejandro; gushes about her dreams of becoming a shoe designer; and tries to solve her burgeoning unibrow problem. The diaries also have a darker side, as a sense of impending doom builds as the entries approach 9/11, especially because Alyssa’s father works in finance in the World Trade Center. As a number of the diary entries are taken directly from the author’s originals, they effortlessly capture the loud, confusing feelings middle school brings out. The artwork, in its muted but effective periwinkle tones, lends a satisfying layer to the diary’s accessible and delightful format.
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy. (author's note) (Graphic memoir. 8-13)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-77427-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
"From the beginning the baby was a disappointment to her mother," Cooney (The Story of Christmas, 1995, etc.) begins in this biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. She is a plain child, timid and serious; it is clear that only a few people loved her. After her parents die, she is cared for in the luxurious homes of wealthy relatives, but does not find acceptance until she arrives in a British boarding school, where she thrives on the attention of the headmistress, who guides, teaches, and inspires her. Cooney does not gloss over the girl's misery and disappointments; she also shows the rare happy times and sows the seeds of Eleanor's future work. The illustrations of house interiors often depict Eleanor as an isolated, lonely figure, her indistinct face and hollow eyes watching from a distance the human interactions she does not yet enjoy. Paintings reveal the action of a steamship collision; the hectic activity of a park full of children and their governesses; a night full of stars portending the girl's luminous future. The image of plain Eleanor being fitted with her first beautiful dress is an indelible one. Readers will be moved by the unfairness of her early life and rejoice when she finds her place in the world. An author's note supplies other relevant information. (Picture book/biography. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-670-86159-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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