A must-read story of a lesser-known World War II event and its aftermath
The true story of the Japanese pilot who bombed the continental United States during World War II.
In 1941, the United States was drawn into World War II after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. retaliated with a bombing raid on Tokyo. Wanting to prove that the continental U.S. could be bombed, Japan sent Nobuo Fujita in a small plane to bomb the woods of Oregon and start a raging fire. Flying over the small town of Brookings, Oregon, Nobuo dropped the bombs into the forest, but the bombs did not create the devastation and panic that Japan had hoped for. After Japan surrendered to the U.S. and its allies, Nobuo resumed civilian life with his family but lived with guilt and shame over his wartime actions. Years later the town of Brookings invited the Japanese bomber to their Memorial Day festival. Readers can follow his emotional journey toward forgiveness and peace. Nobuo’s story of reconciliation, not only for him, but for Japan and the U.S., is powerful and poignant. Using watercolors and finely inked lines, Iwai illustrates the moving moments and events in Nobuo’s life with grace and humanity. The story captures a side of World War II readers may not have seen before.
A must-read story of a lesser-known World War II event and its aftermath . (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-43076-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Good fun wrapped in a cracking piece of characterization and history.
A dramatic telling of Lindbergh’s flight from New York City to Paris, France.
Houran conveys readers to a time when flying was still a daredevil activity and aces such as René Fonck were international celebrities. Flying contests were common in the 1920s, and as the planes got better, so did the prizes. The Orteig Prize, named after a New York City hotelier who set the challenge, would pay $25,000 to the first flyer to make a nonstop journey from New York City to Paris. Lindbergh was a stuntman and a barnstormer before he decided to take a shot at the challenge. One of the beauties of Houran’s reconstruction of the event is that it brings Lindbergh’s feat into focus: He was not the first to fly across the Atlantic; he did not fly on a wing and a prayer but planned extensively; a number of other, more famous flyers were in the race, including Fonck and Richard E. Byrd, who had recently flown to the North Pole. She also tips her hat to Lindbergh’s tactical wizardry and keeps the tale not just at a high pitch (“He buckled his safety belt. He pulled on his flying helmet. He fit his goggles over his eyes”), but in a lather: “LINDBERGH! the crowd cried....The crowd lifted him above their heads. They bounced him along like a beach ball!”
Good fun wrapped in a cracking piece of characterization and history. (Nonfiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-38284-7
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
Not of general interest to the intended audience.
The women of the Warli people of western India first produced wall murals, but now men commercially produce these designs on paper and canvases.
Focusing on quotidian activities, these paintings are highly recognizable due to their use of geometric shapes, including figures created with two triangles, one inverted above the other. White, rice-flour people, animals, trees, and symbols are traditionally painted on dark backgrounds made of red mud or cow dung. Jeong has skillfully created a series of paintings that look like the originals. She has taken a few liberties in doing one double-page spread with brown ink on a beige background and one illustration with a green background. Part of the Trade Winds series “featuring stories set in key periods of the history of economy and culture,” the book’s main attraction is the strong illustrations, which will probably appeal more to adults interested in folk art than young children. The simple text accompanying each spread is appropriate for children but often seems so generalized that it could almost describe any agricultural society. Troublingly, the book almost gives the impression that the Warli people no longer exist. The backmatter attempts to contextualize this culture within other agricultural societies but confuses rather than enlightens.
Not of general interest to the intended audience. (cultural, historical, and art-historical notes, glossary, timeline) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5476-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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