Longer on enthusiasm than strict accuracy, but a blue-ribbon set of admirables.
Fifty historical people of achievement from Cleopatra to Ernö Rubik receive newly minted awards.
Trotting past in no particular order (but taking a chronological “Lap” at the end), the honorees begin with Albert Einstein (“The Curiosity Award”) and Wangari Maathai (“The Stand up for What You Believe in Award”), finish off with Malala Yousafzai (“The One Voice Award”), and in between make up a diverse company of athletes, artists, scientists, activists, and other worthies. Most are European or American, but the sexes are evenly represented, and unusual additions to the typical gallery of role models include David Bowie (“The Express Yourself Award”), Ellen DeGeneres (“The Love Is Love Award”), and Paralympian Trischa Zorn (“The Amazing Athlete Award”). Albero creates for each both a formal portrait with a ribbon affixed to the top and three or four significant scenes from the winner’s life, all rendered in the same stylized, neatly drawn way depicting figures sporting oversized heads with simplified but recognizable features. Murray doesn’t always get her facts straight: e=mc2 doesn’t “prove” anything about mass and energy, nor did the Emancipation Proclamation free “all slaves in the southern states” or Louis Pasteur coin the term “vaccine.” Still, her warm commentaries offer both digestible doses of biographical detail and credible rationales for declaring that each award was well and truly merited.
Longer on enthusiasm than strict accuracy, but a blue-ribbon set of admirables. (Collective biography. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78603-064-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
In no particular order and using no set criteria for his selections, veteran sportscaster Berman pays tribute to an arbitrary gallery of baseball stars—all familiar names and, except for the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, retired from play for decades. Repeatedly taking the stance that statistics are just numbers but then reeling off batting averages, home-run totals, wins (for pitchers) and other data as evidence of greatness, he offers career highlights in a folksy narrative surrounded by photos, side comments and baseball-card–style notes in side boxes. Readers had best come to this with some prior knowledge, since he casually drops terms like “slugging percentage,” “dead ball era” and “barnstorming” without explanation and also presents a notably superficial picture of baseball’s history—placing the sport’s “first half-century” almost entirely in the 1900s, for instance, and condescendingly noting that Jackie Robinson’s skill led Branch Rickey to decide that he “was worthy of becoming the first black player to play in the majors.” The awesome feats of Ruth, Mantle, the Gibsons Bob and Josh, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb and the rest are always worth a recap—but this one’s strictly minor league. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3886-4
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
A spirited biography untangles the accretion of myth and story around Pocahontas and makes clear what little is actually known and what fragments of the historical record are available. The text is rich in illustration and in sidebars (on longhouses, colonial diet, weaponry and so on) that illuminate the central narrative. Whether Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life directly or as part of an elaborate ritual might not matter, argues Jones. Pocahontas and her people were certainly responsible for keeping the English settlement of Jamestown from starvation. Relations between English settlers and Native people were uneasy at best, and the author traces these carefully, relating how Pocahontas was later kidnapped by the British and held for ransom. When none was forthcoming, she was converted both to English ways and the Christian religion, marrying the widower John Rolfe and traveling to England, where Pocahontas saw John Smith once again and died at about the age of 21. An excellent stab at myth busting and capturing the nuances of both the figure and her times. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-6844-6
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
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