by Ruth Sanderson ; illustrated by Ruth Sanderson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2022
An inspiring glimpse into the talent and drive of a woman who marched to the beat of a different drummer.
A profile of groundbreaking 19th-century French animalier Rosa Bonheur.
Sanderson, herself a realistic painter whose initial artistic inspiration was horses, crafts an engaging biography whose dramatic oil compositions and engrossing narrative will pull in other equine aficionados. Peppering the text with horse imagery (Rosa “galloped into the world” and was sent “trotting back home” for being naughty at boarding school), Sanderson describes how Bonheur (1822-1899) was introduced to art as a child by her artist father who took her under his tutelage. At school, she “covered her papers with animal sketches,” and as a teenager, she trained at the Louvre; Bonheur went on to study horse anatomy at a medical school and horse musculature at a slaughterhouse. Sanderson explains the period’s limitations on women’s ambitions and its expectations regarding marriage—something headstrong Bonheur had “no interest in.” Thus, it is impressive that her paintings were shown at the Paris Salon annual exhibition, where she won a gold medal. It was her masterpiece, The Horse Fair, however—at 8 feet tall by 16 ½ feet wide—that garnered international attention and the most critical praise. Sanderson details the various steps in executing a work of this scale; the illustrations depict the painting studies, red ochre outlines and layering, and Bonheur on a ladder adding personality to each horse. Sanderson states that Bonheur was aided by her “companion” Nathalie. The extensive backmatter includes information about Bonheur’s lesbian identity.
An inspiring glimpse into the talent and drive of a woman who marched to the beat of a different drummer. (author’s note, bibliography, resources, sources, image credits) (Picture-book biography. 6-9)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-62371-848-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crocodile/Interlink
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2022
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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by Chris Paul ; illustrated by Courtney Lovett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 10, 2023
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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by Chris Paul & illustrated by Frank Morrison
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