Stories of African-Americans, some slaves and some free, who fought against slavery both in the US and the Caribbean, including Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Toussaint Louverture, and Denmark Vesey. Many of their stories have been told before, but the McKissacks (Red-Tail Angels, p. 1637, etc.) perform the important service of bringing them together in one volume. The book highlights that slaves were not—as some myths hold—passive sufferers awaiting freedom wrought by white abolitionists; many fought their oppressors with every available means, through minor inconveniences and full-scale revolts, taking leading roles in the abolition movement. The writing here is occasionally awkward- -readers may have difficulty distinguishing among facts, opinions, and rationalization—but these are gripping tales, in a solid volume about the slavery era. (b&w photos, not seen, chronology, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 8-14)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-590-45735-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
From Hansen (Between Two Fires, 1993, etc.) and McGowan, a moving and enriching story of the discovery of an African burial ground located in lower Manhattan. Although 18th-century maps of New York City show an area marked “Negroes Burying Ground,” the land had been covered over by buildings for two centuries. In 1991, the area was once again excavated to build “a new thirty-four-story federal office building,” but this time, a group of archaeologists hired by the US government were able to dig and conduct research. Their discoveries form the basis of this engrossing account. The painstaking methods of archaeologists, and their detective work, reveal much about the lives of Africans in colonial times. Hansen and McGowan recount that “it is as though people who have been written out of history have found a way to tell us about themselves through the objects buried with them,” and that “a people who had no voice when they were living, and who had left no written records, would at last have their stories told.” (b&w photos and illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-8050-5012-4
Page Count: 119
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1998
Patent (Children Save the Rain Forest, p. 903, etc.) stresses the importance of protecting the planet's rich gene pool for the survival of all species, and makes clear that seemingly insignificant species may provide medicines and products of great usefulness. With plants and animals in tropical Costa Rica and the more temperate US as models, Patent demonstrates how life forms evolve, adapt, and become extinct. She describes the natural forces of evolution and the threat posed by people. Readers learn of the private and public efforts to catalog and conserve plants and animals, e.g., Costa Rica's National Institute of Biodiversity, a government program that trains local people to collect and categorize specimens. Although Patent mentions the government agreements with drug companies that encourage exploration in exchange for a percentage of the profit when useful substances are identified, there is no discussion of the ethical considerations. The many handsome, full-color photographs are not always well placed and sometimes are only marginally related to the text. Still, this is an attractive and personal discussion of an important issue. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 18, 1996
ISBN: 0-395-68704-7
Page Count: 109
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996
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