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ZAP! NIKOLA TESLA TAKES CHARGE

From the Great Idea series

Storywise, this admiring introduction to one of the foremost inventors of the electrical age sparkles, but it doesn’t...

Nikola Tesla arrived in the United States nearly penniless, but he had engineering skills and a grand dream.

In the late 19th century, this immigrant from Croatia imagined generating electricity from Niagara Falls and electrifying the country with an alternating current system. Ultimately, working with George Westinghouse, he made those dreams come true. Tesla’s actual accomplishments are a difficult and controversial subject, but his name increasingly appears in children’s fiction. This new entry in the Great Ideas series may help explain his appeal. Although some of his setbacks are noted and the author hints at his lack of commercial success, mostly this quirky engineer is portrayed as a man who made his dream come true. There is some invented or reworked dialogue, and his story has been simplified. Slavin's digitally colored pen-and-ink drawings have just the right historical look; they offer a bit of humor and are full of interesting machines and motors. Bibliographical references appear on the copyright page as “sources of inspiration”; they include one written for children, Elizabeth Rusch and Oliver Dominguez’s Electrical Wizard (2013), which is visually less engaging but more useful, especially for its backmatter.

Storywise, this admiring introduction to one of the foremost inventors of the electrical age sparkles, but it doesn’t provide a steady, dependable source of information. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-77049-522-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tundra Books

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016

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THE HALLOWEEN TREE

Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.

A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.

A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.

Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4926-7335-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019

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LITTLE MELBA AND HER BIG TROMBONE

Readers will agree that “Melba Doretta Liston was something special.”

Bewitched by the rhythms of jazz all around her in Depression-era Kansas City, little Melba Doretta Liston longs to make music in this fictional account of a little-known jazz great.

Picking up the trombone at 7, the little girl teaches herself to play with the support of her Grandpa John and Momma Lucille, performing on the radio at 8 and touring as a pro at just 17. Both text and illustrations make it clear that it’s not all easy for Melba; “The Best Service for WHITES ONLY” reads a sign in a hotel window as the narrative describes a bigotry-plagued tour in the South with Billie Holiday. But joy carries the day, and the story ends on a high note, with Melba “dazzling audiences and making headlines” around the world. Russell-Brown’s debut text has an innate musicality, mixing judicious use of onomatopoeia with often sonorous prose. Morrison’s sinuous, exaggerated lines are the perfect match for Melba’s story; she puts her entire body into her playing, the exaggerated arch of her back and thrust of her shoulders mirroring the curves of her instrument. In one thrilling spread, the evening gown–clad instrumentalist stands over the male musicians, her slide crossing the gutter while the back bow disappears off the page to the left. An impressive discography complements a two-page afterword and a thorough bibliography.

Readers will agree that “Melba Doretta Liston was something special.” (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: July 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-60060-898-8

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Lee & Low Books

Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014

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