The high-appeal topic will attract many readers, and the suspenseful account will have them trying to solve this still...
This true-crime narrative examines the question that mesmerized the nation in 1892: did Lizzie Borden kill her father and stepmother?
With an evenhanded approach, the author crafts a gripping story full of well-documented dialogue drawn from legal records. Lizzie Borden was the 32-year-old daughter of a wealthy but frugal businessman in Fall River, Massachusetts. She quickly became the prime suspect when Andrew and Abby Borden were bludgeoned to death in the home she shared with them. A conviction would result in the death penalty. After a brief prologue, a short section describes the gruesome scenes when the bodies were discovered, followed by an introduction to the Borden family. The rest of the chapters chronicle the investigation, hearings, and trial. An initial “Who’s Who” keeps the many players straight, while diagrams and photographs of the Borden house help readers picture the layout. Frequent sidebars, integrated gracefully into the text, add context. The detailed narrative separates fact from fiction, discussing and sometimes dismissing rumors and sensational newspaper reports. It’s hard to get a sense of personalities due to lack of reliable information, but the courtroom scenes are vivid and exciting.
The high-appeal topic will attract many readers, and the suspenseful account will have them trying to solve this still unresolved murder mystery. (author’s note, endnotes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-49808-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers will agree when, in the triumphant final poem, an assured Addie proclaims: “I am a girl who knows enough / to know...
In this companion novel, Howe explores the interior life of the most outspoken member of the “Gang of Five” from The Misfits and Totally Joe (2001, 2005).
Told entirely in verse, the story follows 13-year-old Addie’s struggles to define herself according to her own terms. Through her poems, Addie reflects on her life and life in general: her first boyfriend, what it means to be accepted and her endeavors to promote equality. Addie is at her most fragile when she examines her relationship with her boyfriend and the cruel behavior of her former best friend. Her forthright observations address serious topics with a maturity beyond her age. She contemplates the tragedy of teen suicide in “What If” and decries the practice of forced marriages in “What We Don’t Know,” stating “…And their mothers / have no power to change how it goes. They too / have been beaten and raped, sold and traded like / disposable goods, owned by men, while the only thing / they own is their misery…” Addie’s voice gains confidence when she takes on the role of an advocate, as when she reveals her reasons for forming the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) at school in “No One is Free When Others Are Oppressed (A Button on My Backpack).” Bolstered by the sage advice of her grandmother, Addie charts a steady course through her turbulent seventh-grade year.
Readers will agree when, in the triumphant final poem, an assured Addie proclaims: “I am a girl who knows enough / to know this life is mine.” (author's note) (Verse novel. 11-14)Pub Date: July 26, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4169-1384-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
Flawed and no longer groundbreaking in its perspective, this nevertheless offers a readable description of an essential part...
A wrenching account of the injustices the Sioux endured from white men and the battles that ensued, based on Dee Brown’s classic Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Brown’s work, considered groundbreaking in 1971, told the painful history of Native Americans in the late-19th century from their perspective. Rather than just shorten the weighty original, Zimmerman draws from chapters about the Sioux as representative of the broken treaties, battles, suffering and death. The fluid chronological adaptation conveys the view that “an overwhelming number” of settlers, soldiers and men in authority were “arrogant, greedy, racist, murderous, and cruel beyond belief,” a conclusion supported by the many well-told accounts of travesties. Except for references to the Civil War, the author offers little historical or social context. He rarely mentions women, although the controversial term “squaw” appears once. The overall effect feels dated, including occasional flowery prose from the original book, such as “the remnants of the once proud woodland Sioux awaited their fate.” Except for material supporting the introduction and epilogue, source notes are not included; readers are referred to the original for Brown's. Photographs, including many by Edward Curtis, and illustrations with useful captions appear frequently in the attractive, open design.
Flawed and no longer groundbreaking in its perspective, this nevertheless offers a readable description of an essential part of American history. (time line, glossary, suggested websites, recommended reading, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9364-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
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