Riveting, visually at least, and likely to stir strong responses in reflective readers.
Terror and irony alike shape a French soldier’s experiences in World War I.
“About one hundred years ago, the whole world went to war,” Pierre-Jacques Ober writes. “It was fought by little soldiers like Pierre.” Words literally suit action here, as the original tale is illustrated with antique, battered-looking toy soldiers in period uniforms placed in astonishingly realistic miniature landscapes and photographed close up (with some digital finishing) in subdued natural light. The effect is both eerie and poignant. In the wake of battles that have left fields strewn with corpses, Pierre earns a commendation by leading in six equally exhausted Germans who had actually asked him to take them prisoner—but when Pierre takes two days off to visit his mother at Christmas, upon his return he is sentenced to death for desertion. “None of it makes sense,” he resignedly observes in a last letter to Maman before being marched off with a firing squad. According to the author, the briefly told episode was developed from the pictures rather than the other way around, and it has a generic air that unhelpful closing notes on the project’s motivations and methods do nothing to relieve. Still, Pierre’s comment is timelessly cogent…and the powerfully atmospheric art compels attention.
Riveting, visually at least, and likely to stir strong responses in reflective readers. (map) (Picture book. 8-12)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0482-7
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Candlewick Studio
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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