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DUEL OF THE IRONCLADS

Name: DUEL OF THE IRONCLADS
Author: Patrick O’Brien
ISBN: 0-8027-8842-4

THE MONITOR VS. THE VIRGINIA

by Patrick O’Brien & illustrated by Patrick O’Brien ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2003

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A picture-book history illustrates the beginning of a new era in naval warfare. The age of wooden warships had come to an end. The Confederacy captured the shipyards of Portsmouth, Virginia, resurrected the Merrimack, and turned it into an ironclad fighting ship, intending to destroy Union ships in Norfolk and steam up the Potomac River to bomb Washington, D.C. Northern spies knew the plans, and an arms race began. “All the navies of the world were suddenly out-of-date.” Union leaders hired inventor John Ericsson to create a new fighting machine. In 100 days, the Monitor was designed and created, towed to Hampton Roads, Virginia, and led into one of the greatest naval battles of all time. On March 9, 1862, with thousands of people watching from the shore, the two ships fought to a draw, never to meet again. Confederate forces later burned the Merrimack, or Virginia to avoid having it captured by Union forces, and the Monitor sank in a storm. O’Brien’s clear and lively writing, dramatic watercolor and gouache illustrations, maps, and handsome, large-format design combine to make an appealing volume. An afterword explains how marine archaeologists found the Monitor off of Cape Hatteras in 1973, and the U.S. government has made the site of the wreck a national marine sanctuary. A sure-fire winner for young Civil War buffs. (Nonfiction. 6-10)

Pub Date: March 15, 2003

ISBN: 0-8027-8842-4

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Walker

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2003

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORY

- BOOK REVIEW
BIG BABIES
by Patrick O’Brien ; illustrated by Patrick O’Brien

- BOOK REVIEW
CAPTAIN RAPTOR AND THE PERILOUS PLANET
by Kevin O'Malley & Patrick O’Brien ; illustrated by Patrick O’Brien

- BOOK REVIEW
YOU ARE THE FIRST KID ON MARS
by Patrick O’Brien & illustrated by Patrick O’Brien

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THE SECRET SUBWAY

by Shana Corey ; illustrated by Red Nose Studio ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2016

Absolutely wonderful in every way.

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A long-forgotten chapter in New York City history is brilliantly illuminated.

In mid-19th-century New York, horses and horse-drawn vehicles were the only means of transportation, and the din created by wheels as they rumbled on the cobblestones was deafening. The congestion at intersections threatened the lives of drivers and pedestrians alike. Many solutions were bandied about, but nothing was ever done. Enter Alfred Ely Beach, an admirer of “newfangled notions.” Working in secret, he created an underground train powered by an enormous fan in a pneumatic tube. He built a tunnel lined with brick and concrete and a sumptuously decorated waiting room for passenger comfort. It brought a curious public rushing to use it and became a great though short-lived success, ending when the corrupt politician Boss Tweed used his influence to kill the whole project. Here is science, history, suspense, secrecy, and skulduggery in action. Corey’s narrative is brisk, chatty, and highly descriptive, vividly presenting all the salient facts and making the events accessible and fascinating to modern readers. The incredibly inventive multimedia illustrations match the text perfectly and add detail, dimension, and pizazz. Located on the inside of the book jacket is a step-by-step guide to the creative process behind these remarkable illustrations.

Absolutely wonderful in every way. (author’s note, bibliography, Web resources) (Informational picture book. 6-10)

Pub Date: March 8, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-375-87071-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORY | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
A TIME TO ACT
by Shana Corey ; illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

- BOOK REVIEW
MONSTER PARADE
by Shana Corey and illustrated by Will Terry

- BOOK REVIEW
MERMAID QUEEN
by Shana Corey and illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham

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TWENTY-ONE ELEPHANTS AND STILL STANDING

by April Jones Prince & illustrated by François Roca ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 2005

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Strong rhythms and occasional full or partial rhymes give this account of P.T. Barnum’s 1884 elephant parade across the newly opened Brooklyn Bridge an incantatory tone. Catching a whiff of public concern about the new bridge’s sturdiness, Barnum seizes the moment: “’I will stage an event / that will calm every fear, erase every worry, / about that remarkable bridge. / My display will amuse, inform / and astound some. / Or else my name isn’t Barnum!’” Using a rich palette of glowing golds and browns, Roca imbues the pachyderms with a calm solidity, sending them ambling past equally solid-looking buildings and over a truly monumental bridge—which soars over a striped Big Top tent in the final scene. A stately rendition of the episode, less exuberant, but also less fictionalized, than Phil Bildner’s Twenty-One Elephants (2004), illustrated by LeUyen Pham. (author’s note, resource list) (Picture book. 7-9)