A solid memoir about working outside the traditional educational system.
In this debut memoir, Obiols Llistar recounts her experience home schooling her three children, the oldest of whom recently reached adulthood. She explains that her dissatisfaction with her two older kids’ experiences in traditional public schools, along with her work as an early childhood educator, led her to remove them from that system to see if they could learn more in a different environment. The author began with a traditional academic curriculum, stocking up on workbooks and turning the dining room table into a workspace. Over time, however, her approach changed (“It’s just that every moment in life is a teachable moment. There’s no need to have it all crammed in one room”), and she allowed her children’s interests to drive their studies, supporting their learning without dictating it—a philosophy known as “unschooling.” The book describes how the family relied on a supportive community, which included a co-op of fellow home-schoolers. She also discusses finding extracurricular activities on a limited budget; the use of outside tutors when the children required specialized expertise; and how a rotating collection of pets kept everyone engaged. In addition, the author writes about how unschooling gave her American children time and space for extended visits with her family in Spain, where they connected to their Catalan heritage and developed relationships with far-flung relatives. Obiols Llistar’s passion for her family’s education strategy is evident throughout the book, and she presents her and her kids’ experience as enjoyable, if occasionally challenging. The book’s prose is clear and easy to follow, and the overall story is engaging. However, the structure of this remembrance has its weaknesses; in particular, several of its chapters, including a short one about educational theorist and unschooling advocate John Holt, are entirely disconnected from the surrounding text, which makes for choppy, disjointed reading. Readers may appreciate its lighthearted look into one family’s life, however, and home schooling and unschooling families will likely pick up inspirational ideas for their own learning activities.
A solid memoir about working outside the traditional educational system.Pub Date: July 25, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-95-325912-7
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Argyle Fox Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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