Demonstrates that everyone’s voice matters and needs to be heard. Powerful stuff!
A big personality with a voice to match, Sharice listens to her heart to find her own path.
In this autobiographical account, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davis shows how she’s always liked to talk and ask questions. She learned early that “good conversation can make people happy” and that “the best way to learn about people is to listen to them.” When Sharice’s mother told her that they were members of the Ho-Chunk nation, who call themselves “People of the Big Voice,” she knew she was on the right path. Sharice wanted to follow in her Army sergeant mother’s footsteps and be “a person who serves others,” so she worked hard at everything she did, excelling at customer service and perfecting martial arts training. Eventually this led her to law school and then to work with Native American tribes. “That’s when,” she tells readers, “I had a bold, brave idea that would need my big voice, my ability to listen, and my ability to take a punch.” Deciding that government needed many different voices, she ran for Congress and won the election, becoming one of the first Native women in Congress and the first lesbian to represent Kansas. Rich, vivid illustrations by Ojibwe Woodland artist Pawis-Steckley are delivered in a graphic style that honors Indigenous people. The bold artwork adds impact to the compelling text. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Demonstrates that everyone’s voice matters and needs to be heard. Powerful stuff! (author’s note, illustrator’s note, cultural note) (Picture book/memoir. 5-10)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-297966-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering.
An honestly told biography of an important politician whose name every American should know.
Published while the United States has its first African-American president, this story of John Roy Lynch, the first African-American speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, lays bare the long and arduous path black Americans have walked to obtain equality. The title’s first three words—“The Amazing Age”—emphasize how many more freedoms African-Americans had during Reconstruction than for decades afterward. Barton and Tate do not shy away from honest depictions of slavery, floggings, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow laws, or the various means of intimidation that whites employed to prevent blacks from voting and living lives equal to those of whites. Like President Barack Obama, Lynch was of biracial descent; born to an enslaved mother and an Irish father, he did not know hard labor until his slave mistress asked him a question that he answered honestly. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, Lynch had a long and varied career that points to his resilience and perseverance. Tate’s bright watercolor illustrations often belie the harshness of what takes place within them; though this sometimes creates a visual conflict, it may also make the book more palatable for young readers unaware of the violence African-Americans have suffered than fully graphic images would. A historical note, timeline, author’s and illustrator’s notes, bibliography and map are appended.
A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering. (Picture book biography. 7-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5379-0
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
Heartening.
One determined man brings two villages together with a hammer, chisel, and an iron will.
Deep in the heart of India, a mighty mountain separates two villages. Manjhi lives on one side, where nothing grows. On the other, rice and wheat flourish. The people there are affluent, while Manjhi’s village struggles with hunger. Manjhi climbs to the top of the mountain to ponder this problem. When he throws a stone, it triggers a sprinkle of powder, which gives him an idea. Manjhi trades his trio of goats for a hammer and chisel. Hurrying back to the top of the mountain, he positions the chisel and strikes it with the hammer. Powdered rock and tiny chips spray. He continues until he’s exhausted, but he’s also filled with hope. Even though people tell him he’s “crazy,” day after day Manjhi returns to the mountain. After a year, Majhi is a little stronger, and the hole he has made a little deeper. He perseveres and, when he returns to his task each day, notices that others have continued his work. It takes 22 years, but Manjhi lives to see the day that two villages become one, sharing water, hopes, and dreams. Churnin’s prose has an elegance appropriate for her inspiring tale, which is based on a true story. Popovich’s double-page illustrations use a warm palette and are nicely composed.
Heartening. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-939547-34-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creston
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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