With the handsome treatment readers have come to expect, Bial presents the history of the New York Harbor immigration station that processed a good half of the immigrants coming to America between 1892 and 1924. In economical prose, he sketches in early immigration patterns and practices, explains the establishment of the immigration station at the beginning of the federal government’s oversight of the process, describes its building (and rebuilding after a fire burned the first structure), the Atlantic voyage, the hopefuls’ passage through the various examinations, their occasional detention and refusal at the border, its closing after World War I and its renaissance as a tourist site. Illustrated with the author’s photographs of the current museum as well as archival images, the account is further enriched by frequent quotes from those who passed through its doors. Although high points receive more attention than low ones, it is overall a measured account, although limited by its brevity. Suggestions for further reading include titles for both adults and children. (Nonfiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-618-99943-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2009
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORY
Did you like this book?
A custom-built, bulletproof limo links two historical figures who were pre-eminent in more or less different spheres.
Garland admits that a claim that FDR was driven to Congress to deliver his “Day of Infamy” speech in a car that once belonged to Capone rests on shaky evidence. He nonetheless uses the anecdote as a launchpad for twin portraits of contemporaries who occupy unique niches in this country’s history but had little in common. Both were smart, ambitious New Yorkers and were young when their fathers died, but they definitely “headed in opposite directions.” As he fills his biographical sketches with standard-issue facts and has disappointingly little to say about the car itself (which was commissioned by Capone in 1928 and still survives), this outing seems largely intended to be a vehicle for the dark, heavy illustrations. These are done in muted hues with densely scratched surfaces and angled so that the two men, the period backgrounds against which they are posed, and the car have monumental looks. It’s a reach to bill this, as the author does, a “story about America,” but it does at least offer a study in contrasts featuring two of America’s most renowned citizens. Most of the human figures are white in the art, but some group scenes include a few with darker skin.
The car gets shortchanged, but comparing the divergent career paths of its (putative) two riders may give readers food for thought. (timeline, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 10-12)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-88448-620-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S HISTORY
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This liberally illustrated survival tale makes reading as compelling as any of the recent accounts of Ernest Shackleton’s contemporaneous ventures. Unlike Shackleton, Australian geologist Mawson mounted his ill-starred expedition for (mostly) scientific purposes. Having set up base camp at Cape Denison, soon discovered to be “the windiest place in the world,” Mawson departed with a small party on sledges in November 1912. He returned alone and on foot the following February, having lost nearly all supplies, and both human companions (one, Bredeson hints, to vitamin-A poisoning from a forced diet of sled-dog livers), but surviving a 320-mile trek back. Supplemented by expedition photos of dim, windswept landscapes, and laced with horrifying details—at one point Mawson takes off his socks, and his soles peel off with them—this lesser-known, tragic episode from the golden age of Antarctic exploration won’t fail to give readers both chills and thrills. (roster, time line, resource lists, index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-7922-6140-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2003
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORY
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2021 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
