Inspiring.
Emily Warren Roebling was way ahead of her time.
As a young girl she studied math and science. She married Washington Roebling, an engineer whose father, John Roebling, was known for his innovative ideas. He designed a suspension bridge spanning the treacherous waters of the East River that would employ new technology and construction methods. When John died, Washington became the chief engineer. Working tirelessly, he went down into the dark, sweltering caissons to dig at the bottom of the river. Like many of the workers, Washington contracted “the bends,” also known as caisson disease, causing him to be incapacitated for years, only able to see the bridge from his window. For more than 10 years, Emily became his go-between, bringing daily plans to the work site and reporting progress back to her husband. She taught herself to understand and interpret equations and drawings, and she was able to answer any questions and negotiate with confidence. In 1883, to calm the public’s fears, she proudly took the first trip across the bridge. Dougherty’s lively narration of the events provides readers with an accessible, factual account of a remarkable woman’s accomplishments. Brightly colored illustrations enhance the action, presented in double-page spreads and framed vignettes, with blueprints and thumbnail informational sidebars and incorporating equations and engineering terms. The endpapers display historical and contemporary photos. All characters depicted are white.
Inspiring. (author’s note, glossary, additional biographical information, bibliography, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-15532-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few...
Shamir offers an investigation of the foundations of freedoms in the United States via its founding documents, as well as movements and individuals who had great impacts on shaping and reshaping those institutions.
The opening pages of this picture book get off to a wobbly start with comments such as “You know that feeling you get…when you see a wide open field that you can run through without worrying about traffic or cars? That’s freedom.” But as the book progresses, Shamir slowly steadies the craft toward that wide-open field of freedom. She notes the many obvious-to-us-now exclusivities that the founding political documents embodied—that the entitled, white, male authors did not extend freedom to enslaved African-Americans, Native Americans, and women—and encourages readers to learn to exercise vigilance and foresight. The gradual inclusion of these left-behind people paints a modestly rosy picture of their circumstances today, and the text seems to give up on explaining how Native Americans continue to be left behind. Still, a vital part of what makes freedom daunting is its constant motion, and that is ably expressed. Numerous boxed tidbits give substance to the bigger political picture. Who were the abolitionists and the suffragists, what were the Montgomery bus boycott and the “Uprising of 20,000”? Faulkner’s artwork conveys settings and emotions quite well, and his drawing of Ruby Bridges is about as darling as it gets. A helpful timeline and bibliography appear as endnotes.
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few misfires. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-54728-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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