Spellbinding.
Tales from 18 Indigenous cultures portray how the first peoples of the Americas have seen their world and their place in it, beginning thousands of years before Europeans arrived.
The Indigenous cultures highlighted here range from the Arctic to the southern tip of South America. Creation stories describe the births of Sun and Moon and life-sustaining lakes and rivers. Stars fill the Hopi sky when Spider Grandmother casts her web to the heavens. Great floods cover the Earth. Some narratives suggest ancient migratory journeys. Human survival is often a struggle as people cross deserts or endure drought, heat, and ice. Cautionary tales, like the Alutiiq warning against needless hunting, offer guidance. Tales of war and conquest, famine and exile, reflect the rise of empires. In a Mopan (Maya) tradition, a prince and a god fall in love, and in an Inuit story, sea and weather goddesses are partnered. A Nahua two-spirit story unites genders in one being, manifesting completion and wholeness. These retellings, most three to four pages in length, are generous in spirit. García Esperón, a lauded Mexican poet, evokes a harshly beautiful world, and Bowles’ finely rendered translation begs to be read aloud. Mijangos’ exceptional blue, black, and white digital illustrations, incorporating a variety of design elements into a unified whole, reflects and enhances themes and connections among the stories. Informative backmatter includes a pronunciation guide, cultural notes, a map, a glossary, and a bibliography.
Spellbinding. (Traditional stories. 8-18)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64614-015-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Clotted with facts, it barely scratches the surface when it comes to immunological details or ethical issues.
Historical background for readers hazy on the whys and wherefores of vaccines.
Polinsky traces the development of vaccines from 16th-century reports of inoculation against the “speckled monster” of smallpox in what is described as merely “Asia” to the release in 2020 of vaccines for Covid-19. The narrative is dense, injected with names, dates, and scientific terms. Unfortunately, it’s already somewhat dated and turns notably skimpy when it comes to describing how the Covid-19 vaccines were developed. More disturbingly, although the author comes down hard on the author of a since-discredited 1998 claim that certain vaccines cause autism, she notes without justification or comment that Lady Montagu and even Jonas Salk tried out vaccines on their own children and that researchers mass-cultured the polio virus in “tissue from human embryos.” Figures, White or light-skinned, stand in static poses uttering wooden declamations (“Daniel Oliver, my boy, you have just received the first vaccine in American history!”). Ginevra cuts a few corners, pairing the writer’s blithe assurances about how safe the treatments are to multiple views of children being stuck, scratched, or bandaged. In one disquieting scene, we see polio victims in iron lungs as bodiless heads. Readers concerned about viral diseases and their treatment (who isn’t these days?) will come away somewhat better informed—but hardly soothed. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Clotted with facts, it barely scratches the surface when it comes to immunological details or ethical issues. (glossary, multimedia resource list, index) (Informational picture book. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2022
ISBN: 1-7284-4872-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
The complex story of explorer Henry Hudson, who, when remembered at all, is known more for his temper, favoritism and failed expeditions than anything else. Weaver acknowledges his flaws but argues that he was also a courageous, tireless and misunderstood figure who helped further our understanding of the world and the accurate mapping of North America. Not much is known beyond the records kept during 1607-1611, when Hudson first set out to discover a northern passage to Asia. This culminated in a fourth and final voyage in what is now called Hudson Bay, where he was cut loose from his desperate and starving crew. The author draws upon those records and other primary-source material to craft this account. This work will particularly appeal to youth who live near the bodies of water named for him (the Hudson River, Bay and Strait), but the author packs in enough dramatic tidbits to keep any young history buff’s attention, including sidebars on such related topics as navigation, whaling and scurvy. Craig’s poignant illustrations evoke 17th-century style. (historic sites, suggested reading, index) (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-88776-814-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
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