A hat viewed in the Jewish Museum sets off a string of questions about its owner by a narrator of indeterminate age. What was the woman like who wore the hat? “Did she put cream in her coffee?” “When the woman put on her hat, did she tip the brim just slightly?” These questions give way to more urgent ones: “I wonder if she wore it the day she left home the last time, that cold, cold day in Amsterdam—that cold cruel day in Amsterdam when the Jews were herded together and arrested in the Square.” Using the vehicle of the hat, the reader is made to realize both the particular, i.e. the characteristics of the individual who owned the hat and who perished, and the randomness of being singled out for death in a catastrophe such as the Holocaust. Although the vocabulary and spare text imply a very young reader, the events referred to presume some knowledge of the Holocaust, raising the issue of intended audience. Without some prior knowledge, the story would seem extremely abstract. Some of Platz’s drawings incorporate old photographs, bringing into sharp focus the human face of tragedy. An author’s note explains the origins of the story in a trip to the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam and the intention of the author in using photographs. An abbreviated chronology of the Holocaust is also appended, as if to provide the background needed to make sense of the text. A fine picture book to spark discussion among older readers. (Picture book. 10+)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-525-46999-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality.
An examination of the history of Chinese American experiences.
Blackburn opens with a note to readers about growing up feeling invisible as a multicultural, biracial Chinese American. She notes the tremendous diversity of Chinese American history and writes that this book is a starting point for learning more. The evenly paced narrative starts with the earliest recorded arrival of the Chinese in America in 1834. A teenage girl, whose real name is unknown, arrived in New York Harbor with the Carnes brothers, merchants who imported Chinese goods and put her on display “like an animal in a circus.” The author then examines shifting laws, U.S. and global political and economic climates, and changing societal attitudes. The book introduces the highlighted people—including Yee Ah Tye, Wong Kim Ark, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Vincent Chen—in relation to lawsuits or other transformative events; they also stand as examples for explaining concepts such as racial hierarchy and the model minority myth. Maps, photos, and documents are interspersed throughout. Chapters close with questions that encourage readers to think critically about systems of oppression, actively engage with the material, and draw connections to their own lives. Although the book covers a wide span of history, from the Gold Rush to the rise in anti-Asian hate during the Covid-19 pandemic, it thoroughly explains the various events. Blackburn doesn’t shy away from describing terrible setbacks, but she balances them with examples of solidarity and progress.
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality. (resources, bibliography, image credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567630
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
A superb tale of an era and an effort that forever changed our world.
In late December 1938, German chemist Otto Hahn discovered that uranium atoms could be split, and just a few months later the race to build an atomic bomb was on.
The story unfolds in three parts, covering American attempts to build the bomb, how the Soviets tried to steal American designs and how the Americans tried to keep the Germans from building a bomb. It was the eve of World War II, and the fate of the world was at stake, “[b]ut how was a theoretical physicist supposed to save the world?” It’s a true spy thriller, ranging from the football stadium at the University of Chicago to the mountains of Norway, from the deserts of New Mexico to laboratories in East Tennessee, and all along the way spies in the United States were feeding sensitive information to the KGB. Groups of photographs are sprinkled throughout the volume, offering just enough visual support for the splendid character development in the writing, and thorough documentation is provided in the backmatter. It takes a lot of work to make a complicated subject clear and exciting, and from his prodigious research and storytelling skill, Sheinkin has created a nonfiction story young people will wantto read.
A superb tale of an era and an effort that forever changed our world. (source notes, quotation notes, acknowledgments, photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59643-487-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
PERSPECTIVES
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