A fast-paced tale that will spark curiosity—Dr. Apgar would approve.
DasGupta, herself a physician, picks up her pen to add the story of pioneering female physician Virginia Apgar to the growing pantheon presented in the She Persisted series.
Though the name Apgar might be familiar to many adults, young audiences meeting her for the first time will find a worthy hero in these pages. Virginia was born in New Jersey in 1909 and was a go-getter from the very start. Her family was not wealthy, but education and curiosity were prized. Even though there were very few female physicians at the time, Virginia knew from a young age that she wanted to study medicine. From childhood and through her career, she gained a reputation as a “fast talker, fast thinker and fast mover” who would let nothing stand in her way. When sexism blocked her path to a career in surgery, she pivoted to the field of anesthesiology, where she would make her greatest impact in obstetrics, pioneering the infant health assessment that now bears her name. Drawing on primary sources and refraining from speculation while always being mindful of her chapter-book audience, DasGupta offers a biography that is just right for young readers eager for independence. Flint’s airy illustrations serve to illuminate the text in a charming style, depicting Apgar and most of her contemporaries as White. Tips on persistence and sources round out the book.
A fast-paced tale that will spark curiosity—Dr. Apgar would approve. (Biography. 6-9)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11577-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
A tale worth the telling, though the artistic license is considerably overstretched.
A fresh tribute to the renowned avian wounded warrior.
Admitting in an afterword that she’s invented details to fill out the “legend,” the author recounts in simple language how the eponymous homing pigeon was trained to carry messages from the front during the First World War and, despite enduring wounds, most famously delivered one that saved almost 200 U.S. doughboys from friendly fire. Her daughter Giselle invents details, too—starting with depicting the bird as much more brightly colored and patterned than she actually was (which does have the effect of making her stand out on the page and among other pigeons) and, in a bit of revisionist history, portraying American soldiers both on and behind the line of battle in racially integrated units. Though similar to Robert Burleigh’s Fly, Cher Ami, Fly (2008, illustrated by Robert Mackenzie) both in the factual embroidery and in the manufactured quality of some of the drama (“Each boom and bang was deafening. Cher Ami was not afraid.”), this does tell the tale in a more complete way by including the feathered messenger’s subsequent doctoring and artificial leg in the main narrative rather than relegating it to a small-type appendix. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A tale worth the telling, though the artistic license is considerably overstretched. (source list) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-33534-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Warmly affectionate but an also-flew, with better alternatives available.
A salute to the now inactive Mars rover that extended a planned mission of three months into a 15-year odyssey.
Like nearly all the picture-book tributes to various Mars rovers, this one anthropomorphizes its subject—though Li artfully manages to suggest a personality without adding eyes or significantly altering any of the rover’s mechanical parts or features. McDaniel characterizes “Oppy” as a “friend” and lauds the way “she kept going,” mixing general remarks about the rover’s construction, journey, and mission to find evidence that water once flowed on the “little red planet” with quotes that are misleadingly presented as if originally sent in plain language (including the poignant final one in 2018: “My battery is low and it’s getting dark”). Opportunity’s sister rover, Spirit, gets nary a mention until a closing timeline that has outdated information about an upcoming European rover. James McGowan’s Good Night, Oppy! (2021) offers a more careful distinction between real and invented details as well as photos to supplement the illustrations by Graham Carter. In the pictures here, human figures back on Earth are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Warmly affectionate but an also-flew, with better alternatives available. (labeled image of Opportunity) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64567-469-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
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