When Li was 12 years old, the Chinese Cultural Revolution began and changed life in that nation. For Li and her family, the peaceful situation, in which several generations of the family lived together in harmony, changed precipitously. Mao’s revolution destroyed family customs and life. Members of educated, comfortable families who lacked political influence (like Li’s) were forced into reeducation according to Communist principles. Her father was sent to a Labor Camp and she went to boarding schools some distance from Beijing. Her education was thorough but strict. The Red Guards controlled life, destroying her father’s valuable library, forcing false confessions, denouncing people and punishing them in public—a dictatorship of thugs. Told in the first person, the narrative will enable readers to sympathize with Li and feel relief when she leaves to study at Swarthmore College after ten years of education in China. Combined with The Diary of Ma Yan (2005), readers can begin to know about education and life in modern China. (chronology, glossary) (Nonfiction. 12-16)
Pub Date: March 19, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-374-39922-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Melanie Kroupa/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2008
O’Connor’s graphic novel is an example of the kind of work that will engage younger teens and spark interest in a potentially dull and little-known segment of American history. Based on the 1634 journal of Dutch trader Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, this describes his venture into what is now the state of New York. The 23-year-old interacted with Native American tribes, establishing trust in order to acquire wildly popular beaver pelts used in European hat-making. O’Connor incorporates rich browns and blues against a black backdrop in the work’s panels that include both interior and exterior scenes. Readers can almost feel the extreme cold and the harsh conditions of the region. The tribes’ lifestyles are presented favorably and their customs enhanced by the artwork. Several facial expressions are presented with exaggerated juvenile quirkiness, marking the work’s interest level as definitely middle school. Though the price tag is high for the format, the book’s quality ensures its place in studies of pre-Revolutionary America. (Graphic novel. 12-15)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-59643-106-7
Page Count: 144
Publisher: First Second/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
In compelling, if occasionally purple, prose—“While his demon pills had power beyond measure, part of Johnny wanted to defy them”—Neimark chronicles The Man in Black’s hardworking youth, meteoric rise to fame and years of struggle with chemical dependency. Because she draws most of her information from Cash’s unusually honest memoirs, readers will come away with not only a sense of admiration for his electrifying talent as a singer and songwriter, but also a vivid impression of his multifaceted character. There are a plethora of adult biographies available already, but this one makes a readable and cogent alternative for younger audiences—though thanks to a scanty selection of photos, it would benefit from being paired with the more heavily illustrated likes of Jason Fine’s Cash (2004). (index, bibliography, source notes) (Biography. 12-15)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-670-06215-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
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