Will provide some inspiration for budding architects.
Late in his career, architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed one of the world’s most famous houses.
In 1934, Pittsburgh retail magnate Edgar Kaufmann hired Wright to build a house near the waterfalls of Bear Run, Pennsylvania. This book traces Wright’s steps through planning, construction, and successful completion of the unusual house nestled in a hillside. The illustrations echo the Japanese print style that inspired Wright’s design in spreads paced to underscore the tranquil setting. One vertical double-page spread emphasizes the height of the house jutting over the waterfalls. The book’s effectiveness, however, is marred by inconsistencies in text and illustration that seem to be a result of an attempt to appeal to both younger and older children. Languid prose alternates with short, choppy sentences throughout. For instance, the narrative recounts Wright’s dreams in stately free verse: “In dreaming this house he will use everything / he has ever seen: stone walls from Wisconsin, / sand and adobe from the Southwest, / towers and trellises from Italy.” His client’s desire for speed comes in jarringly clipped sentences: “Mr. Kaufmann calls. He is in Wisconsin. / He is coming to visit. / He wants to see the plans. / He will arrive in two hours. / He is coming to see his new house!” This, coupled with the flat, cartoonish depiction of some characters (mostly though not exclusively white), detracts from an otherwise pleasant book.
Will provide some inspiration for budding architects. (authors’ note, artist’s note, bibliography, notes) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-59643-718-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal.
Before growing up to become a major figure in the civil rights movement, a boy finds a role model.
Buffing up a childhood tale told by her renowned father, Young Shelton describes how young Andrew saw scary men marching in his New Orleans neighborhood (“It sounded like they were yelling ‘Hi, Hitler!’ ”). In response to his questions, his father took him to see a newsreel of Jesse Owens (“a runner who looked like me”) triumphing in the 1936 Olympics. “Racism is a sickness,” his father tells him. “We’ve got to help folks like that.” How? “Well, you can start by just being the best person you can be,” his father replies. “It’s what you do that counts.” In James’ hazy chalk pastels, Andrew joins racially diverse playmates (including a White child with an Irish accent proudly displaying the nickel he got from his aunt as a bribe to stop playing with “those Colored boys”) in tag and other games, playing catch with his dad, sitting in the midst of a cheering crowd in the local theater’s segregated balcony, and finally visualizing himself pelting down a track alongside his new hero—“head up, back straight, eyes focused,” as a thematically repeated line has it, on the finish line. An afterword by Young Shelton explains that she retold this story, told to her many times growing up, drawing from conversations with Young and from her own research; family photos are also included. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal. (illustrator’s note) (Autobiographical picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-545-55465-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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