Glorious.
If indeed the “child is father to the man,” Newbery medalist MacLachlan’s poetic, careful and concentrated text captures the essence of Matisse’s childhood experiences and draws powerful parallels with his later life and work.
In her second picture book, Hooper (Here Come the Girl Scouts, by Shana Corey, 2012) employs a relief-print process with digital enhancement, art that is a perfect match for the simple story’s vivid imagery. Effective page turns and the accretion of detail in both text and illustration take readers on a journey from perennially overcast northern France to the patterned interiors and lush exoticism of Matisse’s Provence while demonstrating the artistic beginnings of his fauvist palette. It modulates from spread to spread, from the “dreary town in northern France” where the skies and streets are gray, through the exciting, paint-filled pots of color in Matisse’s mother’s china-painting studio and the oranges and golds of fruit and flowers from the markets to the many shades of reds in the rugs his mother put on the walls and floors of their house. The title springs from Matisse’s love of pigeons. He was fascinated by their “sharp eyes” and “red feet.” And he particularly loved watching their colors change as they moved—the titular “iridescence.” Raising pigeons, it seems, was the perfect pastime for this quiet, color-loving boy who would become a brilliant painter.
Glorious. (biographical note, artist’s note, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59643-948-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
Beautiful but bifurcated, with the two stories in one making it a challenge to determine the audience.
A mother tells a true bedtime story about the bear that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh’s name.
Mom tells little Cole about Harry, a veterinarian in Winnipeg “about a hundred years before you were born.” En route to his World War I muster, Harry buys a bear cub from a trapper and names her Winnipeg “so we’ll never be far from home.” Winnie travels overseas with the Canadian soldiers to training in England, but when they ship out to France for actual combat, Harry leaves her at the London Zoo. “That’s the end of Harry and Winnie’s story,” but another section begins, about a boy named Christopher Robin Milne who plays with Winnie at the London Zoo. Christopher Robin names his stuffed bear Winnie-the-Pooh after her, and his father—A.A. Milne, of course—takes the name and runs with it. Mattick’s prose has a storyteller’s rhythm and features the occasional flourish (repeating “his heart made up his mind”); Blackall’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations have a peaceful stillness that’s welcome in a book that, though not about combat, concerns the trappings of war. A photo album includes snapshots of Winnie with her soldiers and with Christopher Robin. The piece has something of a split personality, and the Winnie-the-Pooh angle comes so late it seems almost an afterthought.
Beautiful but bifurcated, with the two stories in one making it a challenge to determine the audience. (photo album) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-32490-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
An inspirational look at one woman’s journey from ambition and vision to the reality of schooling and schools.
The dream of education comes true for a girl from Zimbabwe.
Born in what was then Rhodesia, she’s given a Shona name meaning “listen to the word of the spirit.” She grows up working hard at her chores and tending cattle but yearns to attend school with her brother. He agrees to teach her in secret and does it “the Shona way, through song.” She is finally admitted to the local school even as war forces the men in the village to travel to work. They bring back transistor radios, however, and listening to the radio leads to a further dream—visiting other countries. The girl grows into a wife and mother and shares her thoughts with an American woman visiting the village, who encourages her path. But first, according to local belief, she must write down her dreams on a piece of paper and bury it, including one that will enrich her home. Trent relates her own story of great achievements in the third person, filling it with dialogue meant to inspire young readers with her love for learning and mission to provide educational opportunities for girls. Gilchrist’s soft-toned watercolor art provides a positive picture of a southern African village.
An inspirational look at one woman’s journey from ambition and vision to the reality of schooling and schools. (author’s note, afterword, color photographs) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-670-01654-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
