Dorling Kindersley has a lock on high quality atlases for young people. Here the topic is shipwreck and treasure. Newcomer Pickford presents the story in a thoroughly scholarly manner, with a large and exciting blast of swashbuckle running through it. He covers all the best known wrecks—from Roman times through WW II—from both national and historic perspectives, backgrounds the treasure and the characters who have gone after it, loads the telling with anecdote and high drama—in short, keeps readers utterly enthralled. There are reconstructions, painting, and photographs of the vessels; fine-line and luxuriously colored maps; a wealth of arcana to capture the reader's fascination; and a detailed gazetteer of all known wrecks and their cargoes. The bounty of material is impressive, the presentation sharp, the whole product one big success. You can almost taste the salt, feel the heft of the gold bars. (Picture book. 10+)
Pub Date: Oct. 31, 1994
ISBN: 1-56458-599-9
Page Count: 200
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1994
By more than 80 authors, including Robert Penn Warren, Anne Sexton, Langston Hughes, and Herbert Scott, an anthology of recent (70's and 80's) poems plus a few nostalgic looks at long- gone youth, with references to WW II and earlier. Many relate sharply poignant stories or epiphanies, succinctly and powerfully recalled; Janesczko's familiar themes (e.g., small-town life, Catholic angst) frequently recur. The voices are almost overwhelmingly male (an imbalance echoed in the handsome jacket painting of a small, worried girl peering from behind a much larger, confident man), but the quality is so high, the appeal so immediate, and the selection so personal that it's a forgivable happenstance; teen-agers will easily identify with the problems expressed, often reflecting adolescence as a time of deep self- absorption and loss of faith in childhood beliefs. An excellent collection for any library, especially those with activities involving poetry. Index. (Poetry. 12+)
Pub Date: April 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-531-05901-4
Page Count: 134
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1991
American citizens have been held hostage in the Middle East at least since 1979, when our embassy in Teheran was seized by a mob; Lawson's history of the US government's response in the 80's makes a sad tale of hypocrisy, incompetence, and corruption. He shows how, after the hostage crisis cost Carter his political career, Reagan allowed a series of profitable arms-for-hostages deals to go through—while publicly condemning the idea—to finance his ``pet anti-communist project.'' The ensuing revelations, investigations, and trials are covered here in some detail. In an epilogue, Lawson notes that a new group of hostages were taken when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in 1990. A thematic introduction by Arthur L. Liman, an attorney involved in the Senate Iran-contra investigation, sums it up: Reagan's advisors, acting from ``disrespect, bordering on contempt'' for the Constitution, established a ``secret government within the Government'' for specifically illegal purposes. B&w photos; adequate bibliography; long chronology; excellent notes; chart listing hostages taken in the 80's; index. (Nonfiction. YA)
Pub Date: April 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-531-11009-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1991
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