Truly epic.
Pritelli condenses a lesser-known bit of history connecting the U.S. and Russia.
In 1725, Captain Vitus Bering, under orders from Peter the Great, embarked on an expedition to find a link between America and Asia. The mission failed, but Bering was unwilling to give up, and so in 1733 began the Great Northern Expedition, charting Russia’s northern shoreline and parts of Alaska and Japan. Told from the perspective of a child whose father, Sven Waxell, was second-in-command to Bering, the tale is magnificent in scope yet personal and immediate. The lengthy, trying land journey led to a treacherous sea voyage, and just as they reached Alaska, storms and scurvy began to decimate the crew. Captain Bering died in 1741, but the narrator’s father “led us through despair to survival.” From elegant neoclassical St. Petersburg and brilliant northern Russian vistas of endless verdant forest to choppy seas and towering snowy mountains, the contrasts conveyed in Pritelli’s dramatic panoramas could hardly be greater. Close-ups of hulking bears, snarling wolves, and other wildlife dwarf the tiny humans stretching across the double-spread backgrounds. Time jumps abridge the nine-year venture as the seasons pass and supplies are slow to arrive. Saturated greens, blues, and pops of red give the pages an eerie glow. Pritelli’s bold, inventive use of perspective conveys excitement and wonder along with fear as the spare text outlines a story of persistence and determination.
Truly epic. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9781568464015
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Washington remains an historic hero despite flaws and defeats. These are recounted in far more accomplished biographies, and...
By the age of 15, George Washington had written out a list of precepts taught to him by his teachers, the “Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation,” by which he lived and was guided throughout his life.
Excerpts from this little-known historical document appear throughout this stolid picture-book biography of our first president, in which Washington describes some salient details of his life and career in the first person. The rules are worthy, but readers will note that there is usually no relationship between them and the facts presented on the same page. While the volume is stirring, there is no cohesion to the narrative, and it will not even serve report writers, as most dates and events go unmentioned, as do many highlights of Washington’s story. Only the notes to the artwork provide some factual context. Young readers wondering if Washington ever faced any setbacks will find no evidence of them here. What emerges from these pages is a larger-than-life icon with no warts. Wimmer’s paintings are masterful and dramatic, though some seem stiffly posed. The cover portrait is certainly rousing.
Washington remains an historic hero despite flaws and defeats. These are recounted in far more accomplished biographies, and children will be better served by reading about the real man elsewhere. (author’s note, artist’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 8-11)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4169-5482-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
Reductionist history in an unnecessary novelty format.
A miscellaneous collection of factlets about three pre-Columbian civilizations are presented on board pages suggesting a Mesoamerican step pyramid in this latest title in the publisher's “shape book” series.
Each section includes a map and mentions an important archeological site—the Maya Chichén Itzá, the Aztec Templo Mayor and the Inca Machu Picchu—but provides no dates. Readers may be intrigued by Maya beauty ideals, the Aztec ball game and Inca goldwork. Maya and Aztec calendars are shown, as well as pictures of Aztec and Inca warriors and weaponry. Ružicka describes the end of the Aztec and Inca empires at the hands of Spanish conquistadors but ignores the collapse of the Maya. There is a recipe for Maya hot chocolate that neglects to say when the almonds listed in the ingredients should be added and a description of Tenochtitlán that does not mention that it underlies the center of present-day Mexico City. Kleinová’s illustrations range from moderately realistic pictures of people at work and play to cartoonlike glyphs. No sources are actually provided for any of the information or illustrations. Readers curious about this history will find much more in Peter Lourie’s Lost Treasure of the Inca (1999), Mystery of the Maya (2001) and Hidden World of the Aztec (2006).
Reductionist history in an unnecessary novelty format. (Informational novelty. 8-11)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55407-933-9
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Firefly
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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