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BOTTLE HOUSES

THE CREATIVE WORLD OF GRANDMA PRISBREY

California folk-, visionary-, outsider-, or just plain artist Tressa Prisbrey left behind a “village” of houses, walls, monuments, and pavements constructed from thousands of bottles and other castoffs. Here, she and her work get appreciative profiles from Paschkis, who portrays a spry elder in casual clothes and quirky bonnets surrounded by glorious, color-coordinated displays that glow like geometric ranks of gems, and Slaymaker’s plain spoken insights: “But Grandma Prisbrey wasn’t a regular sort of person who did things in a regular sort of way.” Capped by Grandma’s own cogent observation that her drawing skills might not be worth a hoot, but “there are different kinds of art,” and closing with a spread of color photos and further information about her Bottle Village, this joins the likes of Patricia Zelver’s Wonderful Towers of Watts (1994) and Jan Greenberg’s and Sandra Jordan’s Action Jackson (2002) in exploring some of the distinctively individual ways the urge to create has expressed itself. (Picture book/biography. 7-10)

Pub Date: April 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-8050-7131-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2004

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THE AMAZING AGE OF JOHN ROY LYNCH

A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering.

An honestly told biography of an important politician whose name every American should know.

Published while the United States has its first African-American president, this story of John Roy Lynch, the first African-American speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, lays bare the long and arduous path black Americans have walked to obtain equality. The title’s first three words—“The Amazing Age”—emphasize how many more freedoms African-Americans had during Reconstruction than for decades afterward. Barton and Tate do not shy away from honest depictions of slavery, floggings, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow laws, or the various means of intimidation that whites employed to prevent blacks from voting and living lives equal to those of whites. Like President Barack Obama, Lynch was of biracial descent; born to an enslaved mother and an Irish father, he did not know hard labor until his slave mistress asked him a question that he answered honestly. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, Lynch had a long and varied career that points to his resilience and perseverance. Tate’s bright watercolor illustrations often belie the harshness of what takes place within them; though this sometimes creates a visual conflict, it may also make the book more palatable for young readers unaware of the violence African-Americans have suffered than fully graphic images would. A historical note, timeline, author’s and illustrator’s notes, bibliography and map are appended.

A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering. (Picture book biography. 7-10)

Pub Date: April 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-8028-5379-0

Page Count: 50

Publisher: Eerdmans

Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015

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GEORGE CRUM AND THE SARATOGA CHIP

Spinning lively invented details around skimpy historical records, Taylor profiles the 19th-century chef credited with inventing the potato chip. Crum, thought to be of mixed Native-American and African-American ancestry, was a lover of the outdoors, who turned cooking skills learned from a French hunter into a kitchen job at an upscale resort in New York state. As the story goes, he fried up the first batch of chips in a fit of pique after a diner complained that his French fries were cut too thickly. Morrison’s schoolroom, kitchen and restaurant scenes seem a little more integrated than would have been likely in the 1850s, but his sinuous figures slide through them with exaggerated elegance, adding a theatrical energy as delicious as the snack food they celebrate. The author leaves Crum presiding over a restaurant (also integrated) of his own, closes with a note separating fact from fiction and also lists her sources. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: April 1, 2006

ISBN: 1-58430-255-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Lee & Low Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006

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