by Paul Fleischman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2019
Overall, a humorous, thoughtful demonstration that the path to writing isn’t always a straight line.
The Newbery medalist offers a combination memoir and guide for aspiring writers.
As a young boy in 1962, Paul Fleischman, son of children’s author Sid Fleischman, is introduced to a larger world of storytelling with his shortwave radio. Listening to broadcasts from around the world opens him up to cultures beyond white suburban Santa Monica. As part of his father’s research for a book, the family purchases a printing press to be assembled at home, an experience that is an early influence on Paul’s road to becoming an author himself. One of his first experiments as a writer is an outlandish, rogue newspaper he and his fellow classmates produce and distribute under the radar of high school administrators. High school is followed by a spell of wanderlust, including a short stint at UC Berkeley and a bike ride up the West Coast to Vancouver that capriciously lands him first in New England and ultimately in Albuquerque. Vignettes with writing advice, sometimes only tangentially connected to the adjoining chapters, appear sporadically and jar the narrative. Fleischman’s story reads as a remarkably engaging memoir but less successfully as a writing tutorial. At times, cultural references may be lost on younger readers, such as roller derby, Shirley Temple, and Marxism, and they may wish for more context.
Overall, a humorous, thoughtful demonstration that the path to writing isn’t always a straight line. (Memoir. 11-13)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-285745-3
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
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by Lorraine Jean Hopping ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2010
Hopping wraps her cogent account of how the Nee-mee-pu (Nez Perce) were rooted out of their homeland and only subdued after a long and heroic pursuit around twin character portraits of the group and of its most renowned member. While presenting Joseph as one chief among several—and not a war chief, as sometimes depicted, but “a peace chief, a civil leader” whose greatest skill was the ability to “sway others with well-chosen words”—she places him in a peaceable, prosperous and steady society that enjoyed good relations with encroaching “So-ya-pu” until broken promises, profound misunderstanding and outright aggression escalated into violence. Joseph argued for peace before and during the tragic “War of 1877” and in later years too as he became a nationally known figure. His tale has been told plenty of times to young audiences, but this iteration comes in an appealingly compact format, with plenty of contemporary photos and maps, plus a generous selection of backmatter. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-6842-2
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
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by Élisabeth de Lambilly & illustrated by Séverine Cordier & translated by Robert Brent ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 10, 2010
This mixed-format profile of the Great Soul sandwiches a concise narrative account of his life—enhanced by plenty of photos and sketched illustrations, plus side boxes and a spread on Hindu theology and customs—between a look at formative experiences in his early career presented in graphic panels and closing spreads of short passages from his works arranged by major themes (“Civil Disobedience,” “Love”). Urging readers to “listen to his words and consider whether some of his goals are also our own,” de Lambilly follows Gandhi from birth to assassination, focusing especially on the development of his philosophy, his methods of nonviolent protest and the relentless courage with which he took on the forces of racial, national and religious prejudice. Though the author’s fact checking could have been better—Pakistan was not “the world’s first Muslim country,” nor was her subject the “first person to use non-violence in politics”—Gandhi’s inspiring example and message is conveyed here with eloquence and simplicity in an appealingly designed package. The resource list includes works for both adults and younger audiences. (index) (Biography. 11-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59270-094-3
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
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