by Peter Britton & developed by TimeMaps ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2013
A dispensable supplement to the nondigital likes of James Cross Giblin’s When Plague Strikes (1995), superficial of content...
A mobile version of a much more expensive online visual aid that maps the spread of the 14th-century pandemic.
Above a row of seven fixed buttons on a timeline that runs from 1346 to 1351 is a pale, sparsely labeled map that shows most of Africa and Eurasia. Tapping the buttons changes the display. A blot of solid black spreads from an area north of the Caspian Sea in 1346 to encompass, by 1351, southern Japan to western Africa. Overlaid on that, viewers can opt to see about two dozen cities, plus major trade routes; by tapping scattered “I” icons, they can bring up general information in side windows about the time’s major political entities and regional economics, brief quotes from contemporary chroniclers, details of the plague’s spread and some of its long-term consequences. Along with some typos, claims that rats (rather than their fleas) were plague carriers and the implication that the church always opposed pogroms against European Jews are, at best, simplistic. Furthermore, there is no audio, video or (aside from the aforementioned blot) animation, and the extensive review questions supplied by the online version have been trimmed away (a set of discussion/essay topics labeled “Learning Challenges” remains).
A dispensable supplement to the nondigital likes of James Cross Giblin’s When Plague Strikes (1995), superficial of content and, by current standards, feature-poor. (iPad informational app. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: TimeMaps
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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by Julia Alvarez ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.
Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.
When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-80215-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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by Joy Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999
Bishop’s spectacular photographs of the tiny red-eyed tree frog defeat an incidental text from Cowley (Singing Down the Rain, 1997, etc.). The frog, only two inches long, is enormous in this title; it appears along with other nocturnal residents of the rain forests of Central America, including the iguana, ant, katydid, caterpillar, and moth. In a final section, Cowley explains how small the frog is and aspects of its life cycle. The main text, however, is an afterthought to dramatic events in the photos, e.g., “But the red-eyed tree frog has been asleep all day. It wakes up hungry. What will it eat? Here is an iguana. Frogs do not eat iguanas.” Accompanying an astonishing photograph of the tree frog leaping away from a boa snake are three lines (“The snake flicks its tongue. It tastes frog in the air. Look out, frog!”) that neither advance nor complement the action. The layout employs pale and deep green pages and typeface, and large jewel-like photographs in which green and red dominate. The combination of such visually sophisticated pages and simplistic captions make this a top-heavy, unsatisfying title. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-87175-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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by Hye-Eun Shin ; illustrated by Su-Bi Jeong ; edited by Joy Cowley
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