Earnest but insubstantial, marred by mismatched art and subpar paper engineering.
A tribute to the original Renaissance man, with pop-up models and other special features.
The illustrations mix reproductions of actual works by Leonardo and some of his contemporaries with Geis’ own drab, flat daubs, and the combination is not a happy one. Fitting in sketchy biographical details as she goes and with an eye to demonstrating the artist’s legendary versatility, she devotes each of seven spreads to a particular project or topic. The huge, never-finished horse commissioned by the Duke of Milan, for instance, is represented here by a featureless brown pop-up of the clay model flanked by standing lines of indistinct onlookers that lean back even when the leaves are fully separated. Similarly, on a final spread anachronistically headed “Robots,” a simply rendered armored figure jerks an arm and a leg with the pull of a tab, but the author does not say whether Leonardo’s design was ever built, nor does she show or describe its actual mechanism. Much of the narrative and most of the small, murky reproductions are squeezed into peanut-shaped booklets. For “Portraits,” three reproduced paintings on flimsy loose sheets can be slid from a frame and exchanged, and based on one tiny partial sketch, readers are invited to glue together an “ideal city” like Leonardo’s from a set of larger punch-out sheets in a pocket at the end.
Earnest but insubstantial, marred by mismatched art and subpar paper engineering. (Informational pop-up. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-61689-766-6
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Unassuming of aspect but judicious and illuminating of content.
Modest production values add appeal to this carefully researched account of “a life of courage, passion, and adventure.”
Young readers already have a plethora of Tubman titles to choose from, including the author’s own 1992 Picture Book of Harriet Tubman for younger readers, illustrated by Samuel Byrd. This one, though, offers an unusually coherent picture of her character as well as her place within both the major events of her times and the work of the Underground Railroad. Laying stress on her religious faith and her selfless nature, Adler covers her career as Union spy and nurse as well as “conductor” in deep-enough detail to make mention of her later involvement in a money swindle and her ambiguous relationship with “niece” (daughter? kidnap victim?) Margaret Stewart. Sheaves of small, period black-and-white portrait photos or engravings, plus occasional atrocity reports or editorials clipped from African-American newspapers give the pages a staid look overall. This is underscored by a typeface that, intentionally or otherwise, sometimes looks battered or too-lightly inked. Tubman’s exploits and struggles make absorbing reading nonetheless.
Unassuming of aspect but judicious and illuminating of content. (endnotes, bibliography, personal note about the author’s family in the Civil War) (Biography. 10-12)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2365-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A portrait of a courageous and admirable young voice for change—but no substitute for the book that is its major source.
A cursory introduction to the Pakistani teenager who earned international attention (and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination) after surviving a Taliban gunman’s assassination attempt.
Doeden draws largely from Yousafzai’s 2013 autobiography and a handful of news reports to craft his account. He explains how she, as the eldest daughter of a dedicated founder of girls schools in Pakistan and co-author (at the age of 11) of a personal blog sponsored by the BBC Urdu, became a public face for Muslim girls’ education—and therefore a Taliban target. Silenced only temporarily by a bullet to the head in 2012, she has gone on not only to become an even more vocal advocate for equal (not to say any) education, but to challenge President Barack Obama face to face about the use of military drones in her country. It’s a straightforward account geared to those who aren’t ready to tackle longer, richer resources. Most of the cramped color photos, and all of the unhelpful pull quotes, serve to fill space more than anything else.
A portrait of a courageous and admirable young voice for change—but no substitute for the book that is its major source. (map, endnotes, bibliography) (Biography. 10-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-4907-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Lerner
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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