An engaging account of a man who dedicated his life to telling Peru’s long history.
An introduction to the life of Julio C. Tello, one of the most important Peruvian archaeologists and the first Indigenous archaeologist in the Americas.
Born in the highlands of Peru in 1880, Julio and his family were Quechua-speaking Indigenous people. His fearlessness and curiosity as a child earned him the nickname Sharuko, the Quechua word for “brave.” Presented in both Domínguez’s Spanish translation and in English, Brown’s account goes on to tell about Tello’s childhood and eventual move to Lima to further his education, ultimately in medicine. Pride in his heritage and a curiosity sparked by childhood discoveries of skulls and artifacts led him to apply his medical skills to interpreting the Indigenous history of Peru. Brown’s account of Tello’s life and achievements is compelling and engaging, and the accompanying artwork goes a long way toward giving a real sense of place to the narration, starting with the endpapers that show carved stone heads from the Chavín de Huántar, one of the sites explored by Tello. Children unfamiliar with Peru and its geography will find a helpful map at the beginning that not only indicates the places mentioned in the narrative, but also helps them locate Peru within South America.
An engaging account of a man who dedicated his life to telling Peru’s long history. (afterword, illustrator’s note, author’s sources) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-89239-423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Children's Book Press
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few...
Shamir offers an investigation of the foundations of freedoms in the United States via its founding documents, as well as movements and individuals who had great impacts on shaping and reshaping those institutions.
The opening pages of this picture book get off to a wobbly start with comments such as “You know that feeling you get…when you see a wide open field that you can run through without worrying about traffic or cars? That’s freedom.” But as the book progresses, Shamir slowly steadies the craft toward that wide-open field of freedom. She notes the many obvious-to-us-now exclusivities that the founding political documents embodied—that the entitled, white, male authors did not extend freedom to enslaved African-Americans, Native Americans, and women—and encourages readers to learn to exercise vigilance and foresight. The gradual inclusion of these left-behind people paints a modestly rosy picture of their circumstances today, and the text seems to give up on explaining how Native Americans continue to be left behind. Still, a vital part of what makes freedom daunting is its constant motion, and that is ably expressed. Numerous boxed tidbits give substance to the bigger political picture. Who were the abolitionists and the suffragists, what were the Montgomery bus boycott and the “Uprising of 20,000”? Faulkner’s artwork conveys settings and emotions quite well, and his drawing of Ruby Bridges is about as darling as it gets. A helpful timeline and bibliography appear as endnotes.
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few misfires. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-54728-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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