This collective biography offers readers great examples of how dreams can be realized through dedication and hard work.
An engaging collection of profiles of young men who achieved great success, a companion to Girls Who Rocked the World, which publishes simultaneously.
What do King Tut, Mozart, Crazy Horse, Elvis Presley, Stan Lee, Will Smith and Mark Zuckerberg have in common? They all made their marks on the world before the age of 20. In an appealing, conversational style, McCann presents minibiographies (four to seven pages each) of boys from all over the world, from ancient to contemporary, who prove that youth need not be a barrier to “rocking the world.” There is good balance between the well-known, such as Albert Einstein, Tony Hawk, Bruce Lee and Nelson Mandela, and the more obscure, such as Okita Soji (a 19th-century Japanese swordsman), Chico Mendes (a Brazilian environmental activist), Hrithik Roshan (a Bollywood actor) and Mau Piailug (an explorer from Micronesia). Intertwined with the profiles are comments from teenage boys expressing what they intend to do to rock the world.
This collective biography offers readers great examples of how dreams can be realized through dedication and hard work. (bibliography, websites, endnotes) (Nonfiction. 11 & up)Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-58270-362-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Beyond Words/Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More a historical narrative than a character portrait, this account of Tecumseh’s efforts to create a tribal confederacy in the Old Northwest focuses on the great Shawnee leader’s many battles and negotiations with then–Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison and then his disastrous—ultimately fatal—alliance with the British during the War of 1812. Replete with side essays on such varied subtopics as the Northwest Territory, the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12 and the Battle of Lake Erie, it also boasts often–full-color illustrations from archival sources (many of these later paintings and old prints that are inaccurate, as the discursive captions often rightly note, and sometimes too small to make out anyway). In all, this will provide students a coherent view of events if not a clear understanding of Shawnee culture or Tecumseh’s heroic personal qualities. If it's not the 100-page holy grail of middle-grade biographies, it is still pretty close. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-6847-7
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Dec. 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hopping wraps her cogent account of how the Nee-mee-pu (Nez Perce) were rooted out of their homeland and only subdued after a long and heroic pursuit around twin character portraits of the group and of its most renowned member. While presenting Joseph as one chief among several—and not a war chief, as sometimes depicted, but “a peace chief, a civil leader” whose greatest skill was the ability to “sway others with well-chosen words”—she places him in a peaceable, prosperous and steady society that enjoyed good relations with encroaching “So-ya-pu” until broken promises, profound misunderstanding and outright aggression escalated into violence. Joseph argued for peace before and during the tragic “War of 1877” and in later years too as he became a nationally known figure. His tale has been told plenty of times to young audiences, but this iteration comes in an appealingly compact format, with plenty of contemporary photos and maps, plus a generous selection of backmatter. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-6842-2
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
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