Well-researched and intricately illustrated, this portrait provides an accessible jumping-off point for those interested in...
“My story began on a hot August day in 1757.”
An imagined letter tells the story of Eliza Hamilton so that her unborn great-granddaughter will know about her life, accomplishments, and beliefs as a patriot, socialite, philanthropist, child advocate, de facto archivist, dedicated wife, and loving matriarch. Paintings reminiscent of 18th-century American art show Eliza’s journey from her privileged childhood with slaveholding parents in upstate New York to her rebellious marriage to Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and their life together and on to her work founding and fundraising for New York’s first orphanage and her impressions of the many presidents she knew. The realities of slavery are addressed briefly, and Eliza’s role in introducing Hamilton to benefactors and politicians is mentioned. While some of the history presented seems unnecessarily fragmentary given that this is not an original letter—no background for the Hamilton/Burr duel is presented within the text, for example—the endnotes are particularly detailed, and overall, the focus stays on Eliza rather than her famous spouse, presenting a determined, resilient, and individualistic white woman of her time, witness to many years of early American history. An afterword by Phillipa Soo, who played Eliza in Hamilton: An American Musical, is appended.
Well-researched and intricately illustrated, this portrait provides an accessible jumping-off point for those interested in the Broadway musical and captures an extensive historical period from a specific and interesting perspective. (Picture book/biography. 6-10)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6588-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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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