The intended audience may find this less interesting than educators and librarians looking for program ideas; nevertheless,...
A survey of birthday customs from ancient times to today’s birthday wishes on social media.
The special feature of this recently launched series is the inclusion of personal reminiscences, some of which are more unusual than others. Here, the mother-and-daughter co-authors have used some of their own, with the most compelling being Tate-Stratton’s memory of spending her 20th birthday in Japan, where she joined in Adult’s Day, Seijin no Hi, wearing an opulent kimono and participating in ceremonies at the local city hall and religious shrine. The origins of birthday customs in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome are described, as are celebrations in many contemporary countries. Special ceremonies and parties for specific ages, such as the Latin American quinceañera for 15-year-old girls, Jewish bar and bat mitzvahs (religious coming-of-age ceremonies for 13-year-old boys and 12-year-old girls), and parties for Korean 1-year-olds, are explained. The authors also call attention to birthdays for senior adults, especially in Asian countries. The color photos are excellent, and the text is well-researched (although not much is included on African countries), but the activities scattered throughout the book are less than exciting: a recipe or two (some measurements are only in metric units), a birthday calendar project, a simple game for kids younger than the target audience, and suggestions for thinking about and reflecting on the past year and goals for the next.
The intended audience may find this less interesting than educators and librarians looking for program ideas; nevertheless, a useful book. (glossary, references and resources, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1297-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
Adults may have to force-feed this purposive book to those not yet committed to the important causes outlined here.
"Organic," "sustainable" and "food miles" all appear in the comprehensive glossary of this book, whose simple title and cover photograph imply a basic approach to the international topic of food.
This very political book, biased toward food equity, explains why certain foods are eaten in certain countries and why school lunches are important. They fill various needs, from the teaching of courtesy and table manners in France and Japan to the supply of basic nutrients for Somali children in refugee-camp schools. Efforts to improve children’s eating habits, curb obesity, encourage use of local crops and provide food to students with limited economic resources are discussed. As the book is from Canada, naturally there are some references to that country in many of the comparisons. Though published in a seemingly picture-book format, the text is complex. Most two-page spreads describe school lunchtime in an individual country, with a cartoonish illustration on the left and a large photograph of a typical meal on the right with numbered arrows pointing to particular elements. Lengthy captions are keyed to each number. Small globe images in each spread point out countries, but larger maps and a bibliography would be useful. “The Message to Parents, Teachers and Students” provides project ideas.
Adults may have to force-feed this purposive book to those not yet committed to the important causes outlined here. (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-88995-482-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Red Deer Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
A fair wealth of good information too often obscured by what feels like a desperate need to be liked.
A dozen vest-pocket profiles of notorious fugitives—good, bad, and, in the case of Typhoid Mary, ugly.
“If you’re going to change the world, you better be good at running and hiding,” writes DuMont at the start of this uneven collection of bold outlaws. Most of the characters are well-known figures—Cleopatra, Harriet Tubman, John Dillinger, Nelson Mandela—but there are also a handful of lesser-known but serious rabble-rousers: Koxinga (who hoped to restore the Ming dynasty from the Manchus), suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst, and Virginia Hall, who spied for the Allies during World War II. DuMont neatly notes the historical significance of these outlaws, and there is an entertaining collection of artwork to complement the text. But the title of the book gives away its weakness: DuMont overdoes it trying to be chums with her audience. “Spartacus and his new BFF, Crixus,” is typical, as is mention of Cleopatra’s “bling” or “Legend has it that [Martin] Luther was on the toilet when he had his ‘aha’ moment....Instead of stinking up the place for the next thirty minutes, he got to thinking.” It is not just that this approach is pandering, but it removes the subjects from the times in which they lived, thus failing to conjure distinct images about the characters in their particular surrounds.
A fair wealth of good information too often obscured by what feels like a desperate need to be liked. (Collective biography. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63220-412-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
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