This remarkable book tells the true story of a courageous young princess who grew to be a military leader and hero. Set in 16th-century Congo and enriched with vivid descriptions of the jungle, the story unfolds through the journal writings of Nzingha, who is 13 and about to be chosen for marriage. Nzingha yearns for the attention of her father, the leader of the Mbundu people, and fervently wishes to join him on a hunt. Nzingha is chastised for her impetuous and spirited ways, but ultimately earns her father’s praise. The defining factor of their lives, however, is the constant encroachment of their enemy, the Portuguese. As her father’s faith in her grows, Nzingha is entrusted to negotiate with the Portuguese Governor, who offers peace if her people will supply slaves to the Portuguese. She discovers that these slaves are shipped to Brazil, where they are worked often to death. When Nzingha decides to advise her father against this bargain, she is kidnapped. Folks are not what they seem through the twists and exciting turns the story suddenly takes. The journal ends with Nzingha’s safe return and marriage, but the epilogue goes on to give a synopsis of her lifelong fight to save her people from slavery and domination. With photos, woodcuts, and maps the reader is able to get a very accurate picture of this leader, who is still honored in present day Angola and Brazil. McKissack (Color Me Dark, p. 637, etc.) has written a stunning and thoroughly researched addition to the Royal Diaries series. (epilogue, historical note, family tree, photos, maps, pronunciation guide, glossary) (Historical fiction. 8-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-439-11210-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This unique blend of fact-based characters and inspired storytelling will appeal especially to readers who enjoy an...
Short, action-packed chapters convincingly portray the sights, smells, and sounds of lower-class Elizabethan England in 1593.
Rescued from servitude and on the run from the cutthroat Gamaliel Ratsey, young Tom finds himself adrift in the bustling and dangerous city of London. Befriended by expert pickpocket Moll Cutpurse, he lands a job as an apprentice actor with a troop of mysterious men who have been hired to perform a comedy for the queen. Increasingly suspicious of his fellow actors, Tom risks his own life to save that of the aging queen, resulting in an astonishing discovery for them both. Sinister criminals, good-hearted ne'er-do-wells, and Shakespeare himself are all described with sly touches of whimsy that adds to the story's appeal.
This unique blend of fact-based characters and inspired storytelling will appeal especially to readers who enjoy an imaginative, no-holds-barred approach to historical fiction. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-399-23432-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1999
Adler (also with Widener, Lou Gehrig, 1997, etc.) sets his fictional story during the week of July 14, 1932, in the Bronx, when the news items that figure in this tale happened. A boy gets a dime for his birthday, instead of the bicycle he longs for, because it is the Great Depression, and everyone who lives in his neighborhood is poor. While helping his friend Jacob sell newspapers, he discovers that his own father, who leaves the house with a briefcase each day, is selling apples on Webster Avenue along with the other unemployed folk. Jacob takes the narrator to Yankee Stadium with the papers, and people don’t want to hear about the Coney Island fire or the boy who stole so he could get something to eat in jail. They want to hear about Babe Ruth and his 25th homer. As days pass, the narrator keeps selling papers, until the astonishing day when Ruth himself buys a paper from the boy with a five-dollar bill and tells him to keep the change. The acrylic paintings bask in the glow of a storied time, where even row houses and the elevated train have a warm, solid presence. The stadium and Webster Avenue are monuments of memory rather than reality in a style that echoes Thomas Hart Benton’s strong color and exaggerated figures. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201378-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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