A rewarding story, low-key despite its frank heroics.
Astronaut and physician Hilmers’ life has been one of great variety, color and faith—and even a few missteps.
It is breathtaking to read of what Hilmers has achieved since he left the small town in Iowa where he was born. From college, he becomes a naval flight officer in the Marines, goes on to gain a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, joins the corps of space shuttle astronauts, becomes a doctor and academic, then partakes in fieldwork around the globe, tending the poor and in need. Houston spools this out in Hilmers’ first-person voice in matter-of-fact fashion and with a generous helping of humility. The humility comes in part from his religiosity, which he doesn’t overplay—except, perhaps, in the last few pages—but comes in sincere-sounding, deep-running bursts: “God knew exactly what was best for me and my life. He worked it out for his purpose and glory….” But don’t sell Hilmers short when it comes to personal drive and reflectiveness; he was brought up with an ethic of hard work and curiosity, with the desire to do things well, “but not at the expense of someone else. I was competitive, yes, but only to take away the clouds of doubt in my heart and see how far I could push myself.” And it is plenty far—his energy level is exhausting to witness—despite a few sojourns down wayward paths (“I was a sinner in need of salvation”); it now finds him tangling with the spoils of suffering every day, making a difference.
A rewarding story, low-key despite its frank heroics. (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-310-73613-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2013
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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