A playful but incomplete introduction to the cultural geography of far-flung locations.
A swarm of facts and images about 15 locations spaced all around the globe.
These thronging pages are as busy as a Waldo experience, except the point here is variety. Each location gets a two-page spread highlighting a dozen features that give it character, color, and even whimsy. The locations range from New York to Ulaanbaatar, Alice Springs to Cape Town, Moscow to the Galápagos. Martin’s selection of distinctive features is sure-handed: the doorkeepers of Cairo, the colorful rooftops of Reykjavik, the cheeses and cafes of Paris, the botecos in Rio de Janeiro, the salarymen and ramen noodles of Tokyo. The top-shelf watercolors capture the essence of the thing being described, whether it be Moscow’s stray dogs or New York’s manhole covers (caught in a moody drizzle). Sometimes the short explanations under the name of the object are jokey (“Coffee: Pronounced KAW-fee”), and sometimes they are chock full of information: New Delhi has the “world’s largest fleet of environmentally friendly gas-powered buses”; Arctic terns “travel 44,000 miles every year, the longest migration route of any animal”; and Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing is the busiest in the world, with 100,000 pedestrians per hour. What’s covered is covered well, if glancingly; however, it’s a shame there’s no city from Africa’s beltline (where are Lagos, Nairobi, Kinshasa?), and Rio is the only South American metropolis highlighted.
A playful but incomplete introduction to the cultural geography of far-flung locations. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4521-6514-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
A rendition more poignant than patriotic with, at least in the rhymed portions, the cadence of a lullaby.
An illustrated version of the ever popular Scottish “Skye Boat Song,” with added lyrics and historical background.
Written in the 19th century (and set to a folk melody), the verses commemorate the flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie, then in his mid-20s, from the 1746 battle of Culloden. They begin after a prose introduction that sets the scene and follows the fugitive until—disguised (according to legend) as resourceful cottager Flora MacDonald’s maidservant—he escapes in a boat to the Isle of Skye. Along with a closing note, the anonymous modern co-author also adds a near ambush by British troops to the storyline in the lyrics and tones down the martial closing lines to a milder “Rightfully king! True hearts will stay / Faithful for evermore!” There is no visible blood or explicit violence in Belli’s depictions of the battle and its aftermath, but in the clean-lined watercolor scenes he fashions evocatively rough seas and stormy skies until landfall brings a final calm. The British soldiers’ red coats and the bright tartans in which the handsome, downcast prince and other male Scots in the all-white cast are outfitted shine against the muted backgrounds.
A rendition more poignant than patriotic with, at least in the rhymed portions, the cadence of a lullaby. (map) (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-78250-367-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Floris
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Skip.
A compact survey of world myths and legends.
Explaining that “myths are stories people used to tell to explain things they didn’t understand about their history, nature, or the world around them” and that “legends may once have been based on truth” but “have become fabulous fantasies,” Lawrence presents a smattering of notable characters and tales. The Greeks get a fair amount of attention, with the stories of Heracles, Theseus, Jason, and Pandora each afforded a double-page spread. As the book is quite small (5 ¾ inches high by 7 ½ inches across), that’s just a few sentences each. Other characters are grouped thematically (Robin Hood, Sun Wukong, Finn McCool, and Kintaro are “heroes”; Baba Yaga, Baron Samedi, Medusa, and Set are “the bad guys”). Although it’s clear Lawrence has worked not to limit herself to European mythology, her efforts at inclusivity are ham-handed at best. Next to a picture that looks suspiciously like Disney’s Pocahontas is a brief blurb on the generic “Native American spirit Sky Woman” (printed in black ink on dark-purple paper, so many readers may skip this anyway). Stories from extant cosmologies are presented alongside dead ones with no explanation, so readers who don’t know better may come away thinking Hinduism is as passé as the Norse pantheon, for instance. Equally troubling, stories and figures from the Abrahamic traditions are entirely absent, setting up a false opposition among belief systems.
Skip. (Nonfiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-944530-11-2
Page Count: 72
Publisher: 360 Degrees
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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