An unusually slight offering from an author whose work is usually so compelling.
This book features the lives of a variety of Latinos who faced life’s challenges with aplomb and in their own ways.
Celebrated Cuban-American author Engle presents the lives of some well-known Latinos such as the musician Tito Puente, labor union organizer César Chávez, and National Baseball Hall of Fame player Roberto Clemente. Others are not as familiar to children today but still left their marks on our country: Father Félix Varela, who became an advocate of equal rights for Irish immigrants; Paulina Pedroso, who openly defied racial segregation; Aída de Acosta, who flew a dirigible six months before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane; and George Meléndez Wright, first chief of the National Parks Wildlife Division and a renowned conservationist. Given his close association with Cuba rather than the United States, the inclusion of poet José Martí is puzzling. Each one of the 18 people presented is awarded a double-page spread. On one page each person is stunningly portrayed in López’s strong and vibrant style; opposite is a first-person biographical poem that provides a glimpse into its subject’s life. At the end of the book the author has included a brief biographical note about each, yet between poem and note readers may find they are left with a large information gap. A further list of other outstanding Latinos is also included.
An unusually slight offering from an author whose work is usually so compelling. (Picture book/biography/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9876-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
The story’s focus on Gabe, as cranky and independent as his human, makes for a surprisingly accessible introduction to the...
Just as Steinbeck took Charley on his travels, teenage Gill went with Gabe: “Home was where your friends were, so Gabe and I became each other’s home.”
More in search of a satisfactory place to settle down than some nebulous America, Gill recalls leaving home at 17 and meeting the blue merle husky mix that became her canine companion in a first aid tent at a 1972 Rainbow Tribe festival in Colorado. From there, the two hitchhiked to New Orleans, then onward across the country before fetching up, ultimately, in Alaska. As a late, glancing reference to marriage and divorce indicates, Gill leaves a lot out, but what she includes strings both simple adventures and emotionally complex moments one after another into an episodic but loving tribute. She describes living in the French Quarter, where “overdoses and pistol-whippings by the police were common,” losing her beloved dog and then being joyfully reunited, raising a litter of husky pups abandoned by their mother, and, in later years, running an Iditarod and finally holding Gabe in her arms as old age takes him. The tale is printed on full-bleed color paintings that add considerably to their vividness by centering on the author’s independent, confident-looking figure and on a dog that, as often as not, is posed with teeth bared in a feral snarl.
The story’s focus on Gabe, as cranky and independent as his human, makes for a surprisingly accessible introduction to the 1970s for middle graders. (afterword) (Graphic memoir. 8-10)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-57091-354-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
Middle-grade readers will enjoy this book with its hints of magic, well-limned characters, and that totally appealing...
The oddball star of this engaging fantasy slowly comes to believe her unusual character and strange powers come from her distant relationship to Mother Goose.
Pixie Piper knows that the other girls have multiple friends where she has only one friend, and that pal is a boy, Gray. The redheaded white girl is an avid reader and writer of poetry, yet another oddity in her town. After Pixie’s mother reveals that they are both descendants of Mother Goose (which explains her incredible facility at impromptu rhymed verse), events take off. Pixie and Gray find a large egg and incubate it to hatching. Pixie’s maternal love for the baby goose she names Destiny—a charismatic character in her own right—precipitates the arrival of Raveneece, a strange, scary female villain, into her life. Over the course of the story, Alexa and Lucy (of South African and Chinese descent, respectively, giving the story some racial diversity) become new friends and popular Sage, a sort of “frenemy.” Her small town, where everyone seems to know everyone else, is a comfortable setting. The Piper family lives in Acorn House, in a development that also houses a museum for historic toilets. Characters, even the secondary ones, are memorable and add much to the story. The climax will chill readers but satisfy them, and there is a strong hint that more books will follow—here’s hoping that’s soon.
Middle-grade readers will enjoy this book with its hints of magic, well-limned characters, and that totally appealing gosling. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-239377-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
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