The story is both poignant and meaningful, but the simplification does the audience a disservice.
The Children of Willesden Lane (2003), Golabek and Cohen’s story of Golabek’s mother’s life as a young Austrian refugee in London during World War II, is adapted (for the third time) for a picture-book audience.
In this picture-book biography, Lisa Jura, a young Viennese Jew, learns she cannot continue piano lessons due to the Anschluss. Her parents decide to send her on a Kindertransport to England, her mother urging her to “hold on to your music. It will be your best friend.” Upon her arrival in England, the book sends her immediately to the hostel on Willesden Lane, omitting the real-life Jura’s initial relocation in the country. The arc of the rest of the story, with Lisa auditioning for a place at the Royal Academy of Music with support from her hostel friends and a successful debut after the war ends, is largely similar to that told in the books for older readers, but the abundant, unsourced dialogue and detail changes make this telling suspect. Her two sisters are both alive and heartwarmingly present at her London debut in Lisa of Willesden Lane (2021), the chapter-book version of the story, but they don’t exist in this book outside of a family photo accompanying an aftermatter note from Golabek. The soft-edged illustrations ably complement this text, although Lisa—depicted with pale skin amid an apparently all-White cast—does not seem to age until her piano debut takes place after the war’s end. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 42.1% of actual size.)
The story is both poignant and meaningful, but the simplification does the audience a disservice. (historical note) (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-46313-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal.
Before growing up to become a major figure in the civil rights movement, a boy finds a role model.
Buffing up a childhood tale told by her renowned father, Young Shelton describes how young Andrew saw scary men marching in his New Orleans neighborhood (“It sounded like they were yelling ‘Hi, Hitler!’ ”). In response to his questions, his father took him to see a newsreel of Jesse Owens (“a runner who looked like me”) triumphing in the 1936 Olympics. “Racism is a sickness,” his father tells him. “We’ve got to help folks like that.” How? “Well, you can start by just being the best person you can be,” his father replies. “It’s what you do that counts.” In James’ hazy chalk pastels, Andrew joins racially diverse playmates (including a White child with an Irish accent proudly displaying the nickel he got from his aunt as a bribe to stop playing with “those Colored boys”) in tag and other games, playing catch with his dad, sitting in the midst of a cheering crowd in the local theater’s segregated balcony, and finally visualizing himself pelting down a track alongside his new hero—“head up, back straight, eyes focused,” as a thematically repeated line has it, on the finish line. An afterword by Young Shelton explains that she retold this story, told to her many times growing up, drawing from conversations with Young and from her own research; family photos are also included. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal. (illustrator’s note) (Autobiographical picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-545-55465-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Quick and slick, but ably makes its case.
The distinguished jurist stands tall as a role model.
Not literally tall, of course—not only was she actually tiny but, as with all the other bobbleheaded caricatures in the “Ordinary People Change the World” series, Ginsburg, sporting huge eyeglasses on an outsize head over black judicial robes even in childhood, remains a doll-like figure in all of Eliopoulos’ cartoon scenes. It’s in the frank acknowledgment of the sexism and antisemitism she resolutely overcame as she went from reading about “real female heroes” to becoming one—and also the clear statement of how she so brilliantly applied the principle of “tikkun olam” (“repairing the world”) in her career to the notion that women and men should have the same legal rights—that her stature comes clear. For all the brevity of his profile, Meltzer spares some attention for her private life, too (“This is Marty. He loved me, and he loved my brains. So I married him!”). Other judicial activists of the past and present, all identified and including the current crop of female Supreme Court justices, line up with a diversely hued and abled group of younger followers to pay tribute in final scenes. “Fight for the things you care about,” as a typically savvy final quote has it, “but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
Quick and slick, but ably makes its case. (timeline, photos, source list, further reading) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780593533338
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
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