Mingling finely detailed wildlife portraits with scenes resembling the paintings of Fra Angelico and his predecessors, Malone (World of Words, 1998) creates jewel-like illustrations, some literal, others visionary, for this lapidary account of St. Francis’ life and legends. The author humanizes the saint in the opening biographical sketch by describing his profligate youth, slowly dawning vocation and bitter parting with his father. She follows with eight stories, including the “bargain” with the ferocious Wolf of Gubbio; Francis' invention of the Christmas crèche scene; his sermon to the birds and other encounters with animals. Then she closes with an extract from his “Canticle of Brother Sun,” plus a glance at the Franciscan Order he founded. Though less detailed than Tomie DePaola's Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi (1982), this makes a lovely alternative for younger readers. (Biography. 9-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-316-56466-4
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2000
While Josephine Poole and Angela Barrett’s Joan of Arc (1998) focused on Joan as a saint, this spirited but reverent telling emphasizes Joan as a hero. In the little village of DomrÇmy, Joan did not learn to read or write, but she listened to stories of the saints’ great deeds, worked with her parents, and aided the sick. When St. Michael the Archangel first appeared to her in a great light, she was 13; he told her she would save France, and the people supported her, outfitting her with horse and armor, and a white banner with the golden lilies that symbolized the French king. All the highlights of Joan’s story are elegantly recounted here: her recognition of the king hidden in the crowd, her victory at OrlÇans, Charles’s coronation, her capture, abandonment, trial, and death by burning at the stake. Rayevsky’s drypoint and etching illustrations use the muted colors and sepia backgrounds of old prints; the simple, sinuous line and stylized faces are particularly evocative. His visual trope of a flowerlike flame in the fireplace of Joan’s home is startlingly recreated in the final image of Joan at the stake. (Picture book/biography. 6-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1424-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
Destined for synagogue and Hebrew school libraries but unlikely to compel young readers.
Short biographies of Jewish women and girls, selected by the author and the late Justice Ginsburg, who also penned the introduction.
Each narrative is about three to five pages long and is preceded by an attractive, stylized, full-color illustration of the subject. Six figures are biblical, one is from the ancient world, and the rest lived during the last 600 years. Their achievements vary: Several are activists or labor organizers, one is an astronaut, some are politicians, others are artists, and one is a Holocaust victim. The prose is serviceable, while the breadth of the brief collection necessitates biographies so shallow that nearly every recorded incident can be found in Wikipedia. The selection contains little diversity; of the post-ancient subjects, all but the three Sephardic subjects are Ashkenazi, and all are White according to contemporary understanding. Though text boxes following each biography indicate their relevance to the modern world, most contain platitudes, and one appropriates for its subject—Yocheved, the mother of Moses, whose sexuality is unknown—a modern tradition aimed at incorporating queer Jews into Jewish ritual. The one truly compelling aspect of this collection is the context offered for why Ginsburg found inspiration in the stories of these women and girls, which provides insight into both the late justice herself and the changing times she lived through.
Destined for synagogue and Hebrew school libraries but unlikely to compel young readers. (Biography. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-37718-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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