by Paul Erickson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2001
Beginning with general information about the Pilgrims, the Plymouth colony, and the New World and Native Americans, this latest in the Daily Life series quickly focuses on the Prentis family, farmers who live near the town of Plymouth. This emphasis on individuals allows readers to identify with the characters and enter more fully into the Pilgrim lifestyle. Covering such topics as clothing, cooking, government, religion, health and medicine, and the different work of women, men, and children, each two-page spread gives detailed information about daily life. Dry at times, the text works best on those pages that are divided into various subtopics. Readers are sometimes left wondering if the Prentises truly exemplify the average Pilgrim family. For example, Rebecca Prentis is a widow with two children who remarried. There is no sense of whether this was a common occurrence, or whether it was widely accepted in the town. Also, aside from a page in the general introduction and very brief mentions of trade and defense, Native Americans are largely left out of the book. Did the Native Americans have any impact on the lives of the Pilgrims? Wonderful full-color photographs of reproductions and reenactments, as well as black-and-white sketches and maps, support the text. All are well captioned. While the watercolor illustrations of the Prentis family are rather wooden-looking, they do help readers put a face with a name, and the responsibilities associated with each person. Erickson’s text is a good reference and an interesting read, but this should not be the sole source of information on Pilgrim life and the Plymouth colony. (index, glossary, timeline) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-05846-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
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by Paul Erickson ; photographed by Andrew Martinez
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by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by Kenard Pak ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020
A beautiful, powerful reflection on a tragic history.
In spare verse, Lowry reflects on moments in her childhood, including the bombings of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.
When she was a child, Lowry played at Waikiki Beach with her grandmother while her father filmed. In the old home movie, the USS Arizona appears through the mist on the horizon. Looking back at her childhood in Hawaii and then Japan, Lowry reflects on the bombings that began and ended a war and how they affected and connected everyone involved. In Part 1, she shares the lives and actions of sailors at Pearl Harbor. Part 2 is stories of civilians in Hiroshima affected by the bombing. Part 3 presents her own experience as an American in Japan shortly after the war ended. The poems bring the haunting human scale of war to the forefront, like the Christmas cards a sailor sent days before he died or the 4-year-old who was buried with his red tricycle after Hiroshima. All the personal stories—of sailors, civilians, and Lowry herself—are grounding. There is heartbreak and hope, reminding readers to reflect on the past to create a more peaceful future. Lowry uses a variety of poetry styles, identifying some, such as triolet and haiku. Pak’s graphite illustrations are like still shots of history, adding to the emotion and somber feeling. He includes some sailors of color among the mostly white U.S. forces; Lowry is white.
A beautiful, powerful reflection on a tragic history. (author’s note, bibliography) (Memoir/poetry. 10-14)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-12940-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by Jonathan Stroh
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by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by P. Craig Russell
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PROFILES
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001
Using illustrations from mid-19th-century newspapers and stories of people actually involved, Bartoletti has written a fascinating account of a terrible time. In the Great Irish Famine, one million people died from starvation and disease, and two million fled to other countries after a fungus destroyed the potato crop, a disaster in a country where six million farm laborers depended on that one crop. Bartoletti’s sure storytelling instincts put the reader in the midst of the drama. Though the layout is dense and uninviting (in galley form), the stories make the narrative memorable. Bridget O’Donnel, sick and seven months pregnant, is evicted from her cabin. “Spectre-like” crowds of walking skeletons in Skibbereen on market day see shops full of food they can’t afford to buy. British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel’s determination to persuade the government to help is thwarted by laissez-faire economic policies and religious and ethnic prejudice. This is history “through the eyes and memories of the Irish people,” and it is history that’s meant to instruct. In her conclusion and extensive bibliography, Bartoletti steps back from her narrative to encourage readers to respond to the hunger, poverty, and human suffering in our own time. An illuminating discussion of the Great Irish Famine and how emigrants contributed to the growth of cities around the world. (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-00271-5
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2001
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More by Marc Aronson
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edited by Marc Aronson & Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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by Susan Campbell Bartoletti ; illustrated by Ziyue Chen
BOOK REVIEW
edited by Marc Aronson & Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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