by Rickey E. Pittman & illustrated by Lynn Hosegood ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2010
This well-intentioned but incomplete biographical exploration looks at Stonewall Jackson’s years as a teacher with a strong humanitarian side, rather than his better-known years as a successful Confederate general. Jackson was a professor at Virginia Military Institute prior to the Civil War, but he also served as a teacher and the first superintendent of a Sunday school for African-American children, even though such instruction was illegal in that era in Virginia. The story is told in a straightforward and interesting style, but the text blocks are crowded into pages filled with large illustrations and are difficult to read. Hosegood’s loose, naïve-styled watercolor illustrations are the most successful aspect of the book. Concluding pages include a timeline of Jackson’s life, an additional list of facts about the general and the words to a well-known song of the era celebrating his life. Both the text and the timeline neglect to mention Jackson’s second wife and his daughter or that Jackson and his wife were slaveholders themselves. No historical reference sources are cited. (Picture book/biography. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58980-713-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
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by Nancy Churnin ; illustrated by Danny Popovici ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017
Heartening.
One determined man brings two villages together with a hammer, chisel, and an iron will.
Deep in the heart of India, a mighty mountain separates two villages. Manjhi lives on one side, where nothing grows. On the other, rice and wheat flourish. The people there are affluent, while Manjhi’s village struggles with hunger. Manjhi climbs to the top of the mountain to ponder this problem. When he throws a stone, it triggers a sprinkle of powder, which gives him an idea. Manjhi trades his trio of goats for a hammer and chisel. Hurrying back to the top of the mountain, he positions the chisel and strikes it with the hammer. Powdered rock and tiny chips spray. He continues until he’s exhausted, but he’s also filled with hope. Even though people tell him he’s “crazy,” day after day Manjhi returns to the mountain. After a year, Majhi is a little stronger, and the hole he has made a little deeper. He perseveres and, when he returns to his task each day, notices that others have continued his work. It takes 22 years, but Manjhi lives to see the day that two villages become one, sharing water, hopes, and dreams. Churnin’s prose has an elegance appropriate for her inspiring tale, which is based on a true story. Popovich’s double-page illustrations use a warm palette and are nicely composed.
Heartening. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-939547-34-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creston
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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by Nancy Churnin ; illustrated by Monika Róza Wisniewska
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by Nancy Churnin & Shayna Vincent ; illustrated by Wazza Pink
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by Lesa Cline-Ransome ; illustrated by James E. Ransome ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2017
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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