An exciting tale, rousingly told.
Fighting to preserve Oglala Sioux territory northwest of Fort Laramie, in modern-day Wyoming, war chief Red Cloud routs a band of 80 soldiers in 1866.
Young Brave Eagle describes the events leading up to the Battle of the Hundred in the Hands and the fierce encounter, sometimes called the Fetterman Fight for the glory-seeking captain who had led his soldiers into an ambush. There were no U.S. Army survivors. First published in 1972, this stirring story has been slightly reworked and reissued with additional material, including a forward from Native American storyteller Robert Lewis and an extensive list of references. In an opening author’s note, Goble explains that his imagined warrior’s narrative “attempts to capture the spirit of the published Indian accounts.” Maps introduce this history, and Goble’s dramatic color illustrations, digitized from his original ledger-style artwork, bring it alive. Groups of flat figures stand out on shiny white pages; they’re under, adjacent to, or nearly overwhelming the text. There’s glorious detail in the costumes, weapons, and even decorations for the horses. This is part of a series of reissues of early titles by this award-winning author/illustrator, welcome both for their good stories and for the care he’s taken to provide the sources and references that weren’t customary in children’s literature 40 years ago.
An exciting tale, rousingly told. (Nonfiction. 9-13)Pub Date: June 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-937786-38-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Wisdom Tales
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
A tween gets in over his head in this introspective and nostalgic story.
Thirteen-year-old Joey Goodman spends every August in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at his grandparents’ hotel.
It’s 1975, and the city is soon to become a gambling resort as old hotels are replaced with casinos. Joey’s passion is playing Skee-Ball at the boardwalk arcades. There, he attracts the attention of shady Artie Bishop, known as the king of Steel Pier, and becomes involved in Bishop’s unspecified criminal activities. Suave Artie engages Joey in conversation about the boy’s favorite book, The Once and Future King, and Joey begins to regard him almost as a new King Arthur. Artie offers him a job chaperoning his daughter, Melanie, when she comes to visit. After Joey finishes his unpaid waiter’s shift at the hotel restaurant each day, he lies to his family, meets Melanie, and they explore the piers’ seedy amusements. Joey falls for 15-year-old Melanie, and she regards him fondly but is attracted to his older brother Reuben. The close-knit Jewish family of four bickering brothers, parents, uncle, and grandparents (especially wise grandpa Zeyde) is lovingly portrayed. The descriptions of Joey’s ponderings about God (he’s had his bar mitzvah but is undecided) and Artie’s business dealings may not hold young readers’ interest, and the immersive setting could appeal more to adults old enough to remember the time and place. All characters are presumed White.
A tween gets in over his head in this introspective and nostalgic story. (author’s note) (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72843-034-8
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
The depiction of the time is well done, and while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilience is...
A flight from New York to Oakland, Calif., to spend the summer of 1968 with the mother who abandoned Delphine and her two sisters was the easy part.
Once there, the negative things their grandmother had said about their mother, Cecile, seem true: She is uninterested in her daughters and secretive about her work and the mysterious men in black berets who visit. The sisters are sent off to a Black Panther day camp, where Delphine finds herself skeptical of the worldview of the militants while making the best of their situation. Delphine is the pitch-perfect older sister, wise beyond her years, an expert at handling her siblings: “Just like I know how to lift my sisters up, I also knew how to needle them just right.” Each girl has a distinct response to her motherless state, and Williams-Garcia provides details that make each characterization crystal clear.
The depiction of the time is well done, and while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilience is celebrated and energetically told with writing that snaps off the page. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-076088-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2010
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