A sensitive treatment that honors sorrowful memories while showing that healing is possible.
A tale of courage and optimism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The book opens on a quiet Pennsylvania field on a beautiful fall morning. Present briefly yields to the past; miners fell trees to harvest coal. Then back to that autumn day. “Terror had struck.” A “plane, aimed at another building, had crashed here….All forty passengers and crew died.” (Though Hirsch doesn’t describe the motives of those responsible, an author’s note describes how those aboard United Airlines Flight 93 forced hijackers to bring the plane down in an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.) But that’s just the start of a new story: how a community built a natural monument to “the heroes who fought back. A place of healing” for those left bereft and for the mining-scarred land. A 200-acre forest—the work of volunteers who planted 150,000 trees over a period of 10 years—and memorial structures now stand. Tam’s art dramatically exploits perspective as vivid illustrations alternate between bird’s-eye views and underground scenes and veer from long shots to close-ups, sometimes within a single spread. People who vary in skin tone participate in the planting. Swirling, wavelike forms evoke life and strength, trees “lifting their limbs to the light” as hearts lift with hope in this account of tragedy that admirably manages to emphasize the positive.
A sensitive treatment that honors sorrowful memories while showing that healing is possible. (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: June 9, 2026
ISBN: 97818668944905
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An enthralling historical account.
Rentetzi tells a lesser-known but inspiring story of science and politics.
In 1958, the U.S. donated two mobile labs to the International Atomic Energy Agency to demonstrate how, in the wake of World War II, nuclear power could be used for good. The vehicles visited four continents, providing global scope to the project. From the book’s first spread, which refers to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and includes an image of a mushroom cloud), Rentetzi’s clear, concise text, translated from Dutch, explains the hope that the labs would allow scientists to make advances in agriculture, medicine, and industry. Scientists “with or without lab coats, with or without shoes” attended training sessions and applied what they’d learned to local challenges. De Decker’s precise, powerful line-and-color artwork—a mix of vignettes and full-page spreads, some recalling classic Northern European art—depicts people, landscapes, monuments, transport vehicles, local animals, and the inside of a science lab in the late 1950s. Details from the text are artistically integrated, like a world map and the painted flags that record the countries the mobile labs visited. While the tone is overall positive, Rentetzi acknowledges the complex political undercurrents of the project, noting that the U.S. government sought to make scientists around the world dependent on American technology, thus giving the U.S. an edge over the Soviet Union.
An enthralling historical account. (more information on the mobile labs) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798890632456
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
In the waning days of 1941, when prospects for victory in either Europe or the Pacific were dismal, the two leaders...
An engaging chronicle of the month that Roosevelt and Churchill spent together at the White House, forging an affectionate friendship as well as a world-changing alliance.
In the waning days of 1941, when prospects for victory in either Europe or the Pacific were dismal, the two leaders optimistically engaged in a marathon series of meetings to plan strategies that ultimately resulted in victory and transformed the world. Wood's narrative effectively captures both the desperation of the times and how much Churchill and Roosevelt genuinely enjoyed each other's company. Moser's detailed watercolor illustrations likewise capture their robust personalities. Despite balanced attention to both men, the eccentric Churchill emerges as more memorable, in both text illustration; most entertaining of the latter is of Churchill, ever-present cigar in mouth, toweling off beside the bathtub. As interesting and insightful as this story is, it may have a hard time finding an audience. Younger readers will not have the background knowledge to understand the historical context of the story, and older readers are unlikely to find the picture-book format appealing.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3383-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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