Electrifying.
A cycle of free verse poems carries readers from 1773 to “tomorrow,” focusing on the lives of six Black Americans whose experiences represent centuries of ferocious resistance to extraordinary oppression.
These figures are Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama. A prefatory note explains to readers that this is “a work of creative nonfiction told in…story-poems—flash lines of verse, prose, and quotes—anchored in historical facts.” The author previously demonstrated his straight nonfiction chops with Now or Never! (2017), his splendid account of Black journalists in the Civil War; here he proves equally adept at the more emotive form of poetry. Rooting the events presented in documented history, Shepard distills them into concentrated bursts of truth. In the section on Wells and her decadeslong campaign against lynching, he writes: “More than two hundred Black / children, women, and men were dead / in a two-day attack by Whites / from three states. / History called it a race riot not a massacre / as if the sharecroppers / had burned their own bodies.” Christie’s section-heading black-and-white scenes are as starkly powerful as the poems. The information presented is kaleidoscopic rather than comprehensive; readers will come away with clear senses of who these individuals were and what motivated them, while formidable backmatter, including a lengthy timeline, further reading, bibliography, and source notes, provides avenues for them to fill in the gaps.
Electrifying. (index) (Verse nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781662680663
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stirring, suspenseful true story of dangerous adventure and remarkable survival.
In this true, thrilling adventure story, 55-year-old former president Theodore Roosevelt joins an expedition to explore an uncharted river deep in the Amazon jungle and barely makes it out alive.
Long before he was president of the United States, Roosevelt was famous as an intrepid adventurer. While on a speaking tour of South America, Roosevelt receives an offer he cannot refuse: lead an expedition deep into a mostly unknown region of the Amazon to chart an unmapped river. Accompanying him are his son Kermit and renowned Brazilian explorer Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, quite similar to Roosevelt in stamina and temperament. The expedition is plagued with difficulties from the beginning. Besides having to trudge through thick, unforgiving jungle and navigate an unpredictably dangerous river with raging rapids and steep waterfalls, Roosevelt and his companions must endure myriad threats such as ferocious insects, malaria, near starvation, bloodthirsty piranhas, poisonous snakes, and hostile indigenous peoples. Seiple’s crisply written, briskly paced narrative brings the constant state of danger to the fore, smoothly weaving in quotations from primary sources. As close to death as he has ever been, Roosevelt characteristically remarks, "I did have a murderous trip down South, but it was mighty interesting." One unfortunate oversight is an absence of specific source notes for these quotations.
A stirring, suspenseful true story of dangerous adventure and remarkable survival. (photos, “Teddy’s Travel Tips,” timeline, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-70916-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
Although the stories are heartbreaking, they also offer solace and hope to other youth who may be suffering through similar...
“Where do you go, where do you hide, when the world hurts too much?”
This question is posed to six teens from different backgrounds, all of whom have endured childhoods filled with pain and difficulties. How does 14-year-old Ryan cope with his father’s sudden death and his mother’s frequent suicide attempts? What about Michaela, who had to cook and care for her siblings as a fifth-grader due to her mother’s substance-use disorder and mental illness? Both found it within themselves to draw upon what was left of their inner resources to transcend their circumstances. Television journalist Pitts offers a collection of true stories told by young people who share how they found self-worth while living in adversity. Not all of the stories draw from a dysfunctional home life. At 11, Mason took it upon himself to go on the internet to find ideas about weight loss and exercise, for instance, after he dealt with his failing health and school bullies who brutally teased him about being overweight. Ultimately, the author leans heavily on academic achievement as inspiration, and although education can be an outlet, overachievement isn’t a cure-all for youths who have suffered years of abuse. It’s too bad there is no list of national youth mental health programs and hotlines for readers in need.
Although the stories are heartbreaking, they also offer solace and hope to other youth who may be suffering through similar experiences. (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: May 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-8382-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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