An invitation for teens and tweens to share in a popular movement.
This short, accessible guide offers a quick introduction to minimalism.
Covering the history of minimalist movements, the environmental and human impacts of excess consumption, advice for ways to start living more simply, and basic guidelines for purchases and discards, the author demonstrates a connection between the current vogue for minimalism in the developed world and 20th-century minimalism in music, writing, and art. While her actual advice could easily (and more minimally) be presented in a magazine article, the variety of her approaches allows for repetition in ways that might make the content sink in without becoming boring (at least for those who haven’t encountered these ideas before). The attractive, colorful presentation—large legible type, frequent subheadings, photographs, and mini-essays that offer breaks in the narrative flow—will encourage readers to embrace the content. Mostly young people, of varying races and nationalities, are shown in the images. Unfortunately there is a disconnect between the descriptions of the negative personal toll of consumerism in the developed world and the paternalistic portrayals of eco-friendly ways of life in developing nations. Sadly, the text and backmatter offer no citations for the statistics. As is often the case, when suggestions for re-use involve crafts, the product is likely to produce more waste. But overall, this common-sense guide will be useful.
An invitation for teens and tweens to share in a popular movement. (source notes, glossary, selected bibliography, further information, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-0054-9
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
For a guide to fashion, there's not much flair here. But there's plenty of valuable info for budding fashionistas and...
A matter-of-fact tone removes the mystery from style in this work that is one-part fashion manual and one-part career guide.
Flaherty begins by explaining what a stylist is and the tools he or she uses. She moves on to a wide range of different looks like Socialite, Tomboy and Hipster; fashion elements like color and prints; and a thorough understanding of body type. While the number of fashion personalities is impressive, not one is male, a confusing omission given that boys wear clothes, too. The section on body types is very useful with its real-world examples, Naomi Campbell representing the Inverted Triangle type. The second half is more practical, focusing on "curating" a closet, building a wardrobe, styling oneself and others, and styling as a career. Sprinkled throughout the text are activities like a fashion-movie night and organizing a clothing swap. The illustrations are attractive, yet it's too bad there isn't a greater variety of body types represented.
For a guide to fashion, there's not much flair here. But there's plenty of valuable info for budding fashionistas and stylists, going beyond the shallow glitz of fashion magazines and blogs. (index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9827322-4-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Zest Books
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Considerably more edgy satire than Happily Ever After here; a bracing take for teens.
From Puss in Boots’ swaggering descendant “Puss-in-Trainers” to the titular break-and-enter artist caught on security cameras, Agard lays urban-inflected modern twists on 29 folkloric characters.
Written in rhyme or free verse with hip-hop cadences, the poems are nearly all in first person and range in tone from funny or acid (“Bring on your shining armour, dude. / I’ll be your damsel in distress with attitude”), to dark, even threatening. Many offer fresh approaches to the familiar, such as quick portraits of Cinderella in biker leathers and Iron Jack as an emotionally vulnerable Gulf War vet. An apple and a magic mirror provide unusual points of view about their assigned roles, as do “Two Ugly Sisters” who defiantly declare that they “won’t be face-down in no make-up kit / We give the thumbs-up to hair in the armpit,” but end with a sobering “Never mind the eye, we enchant the ear / From our ugly mouths come song, come prayer.” The poems are printed in a variety of typefaces, and Kitamura’s heavily inked black-and-white cartoons or silhouettes likewise change looks while adding appropriately dark, angular, energetic visual notes.
Considerably more edgy satire than Happily Ever After here; a bracing take for teens. (Poetry. 12-16)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-84780-183-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
bookshelf
