by Sarah Wassner Flynn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 2017
Tailor-made for browsing but with plenty of nutritious content for young historians and prospective visitors.
A bounteous buffet of historical tidbits about the presidential digs and its residents.
Flynn’s heaping helpings of anecdotes, legends, facts, firsts, foods, and statistics are gathered into 40 digestible (if sometimes thematically diffuse) groupings—from “25 Facts About Rooms That Rock” to “15 Cool Facts About Everyday Life at the White House.” These infobits are set into numbered circles or boxes that are arranged on each spread in rough chronological order. Along with notes on presidential pets and perks, White House ghosts, furnishings, refurbishings, and events like state dinners and the Easter Egg Roll, the author offers nods to the original builders (some of whom were “African-American workmen, both enslaved and free”) as well as the cleaners, chefs, calligraphers, and other workers who keep the place functioning and safe. Aside, perhaps, from references to President Barack Obama’s inauguration crowd and the “80 official White House Twitter accounts,” she steers clear of controversial topics and keeps the tone cheerfully upbeat throughout. Aerial views of the White House grounds and interior (in an artfully selective cutaway) highlight a generous array of period images and photos in which people of color aren’t exactly prominent but are at least represented.
Tailor-made for browsing but with plenty of nutritious content for young historians and prospective visitors. (timeline, presidential roster) (Nonfiction. 8-13)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2873-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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by Alyssa Bermudez ; illustrated by Alyssa Bermudez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 17, 2021
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy.
Through the author’s own childhood diary entries, a seventh grader details her inner life before and after 9/11.
Alyssa’s diary entries start in September 2000, in the first week of her seventh grade year. She’s 11 and dealing with typical preteen concerns—popularity and anxiety about grades—along with other things more particular to her own life. She’s shuffling between Queens and Manhattan to share time between her divorced parents and struggling with thick facial hair and classmates who make her feel like she’s “not a whole person” due to her mixed White and Puerto Rican heritage. Alyssa is endlessly earnest and awkward as she works up the courage to talk to her crush, Alejandro; gushes about her dreams of becoming a shoe designer; and tries to solve her burgeoning unibrow problem. The diaries also have a darker side, as a sense of impending doom builds as the entries approach 9/11, especially because Alyssa’s father works in finance in the World Trade Center. As a number of the diary entries are taken directly from the author’s originals, they effortlessly capture the loud, confusing feelings middle school brings out. The artwork, in its muted but effective periwinkle tones, lends a satisfying layer to the diary’s accessible and delightful format.
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy. (author's note) (Graphic memoir. 8-13)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-77427-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
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by Chris Newell ; illustrated by Winona Nelson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 2, 2021
Essential.
A measured corrective to pervasive myths about what is often referred to as the “first Thanksgiving.”
Contextualizing them within a Native perspective, Newell (Passamaquoddy) touches on the all-too-familiar elements of the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving and its origins and the history of English colonization in the territory now known as New England. In addition to the voyage and landfall of the Mayflower, readers learn about the Doctrine of Discovery that arrogated the lands of non-Christian peoples to European settlers; earlier encounters between the Indigenous peoples of the region and Europeans; and the Great Dying of 1616-1619, which emptied the village of Patuxet by 1620. Short, two- to six-page chapters alternate between the story of the English settlers and exploring the complex political makeup of the region and the culture, agriculture, and technology of the Wampanoag—all before covering the evolution of the holiday. Refreshingly, the lens Newell offers is a Native one, describing how the Wampanoag and other Native peoples received the English rather than the other way around. Key words ranging from estuary to discover are printed in boldface in the narrative and defined in a closing glossary. Nelson (a member of the Leech Lake Band of Minnesota Chippewa) contributes soft line-and-color illustrations of the proceedings. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Essential. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-72637-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
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