Eye-opening for young people who often take their technology for granted.
Following Just Like Beverly, by Vicki Conrad and illustrated by David Hohn (2019), this second entry in the Growing to Greatness series, featuring creative people from the Pacific Northwest, focuses on Bill Gates and the curiosity and ambition that led to his prominence in the world of personal computing.
As the third William Henry Gates, Bill was called Trey until he switched from his public school to the strict and exclusive Lakeside School in Seattle. Bored in school, Gates was finally inspired when he and his friends discovered a ASR-33 Teletype, which spurred Bill to begin programming, suspecting this was the forefront of a home-computer revolution. At Harvard, he and his friends began creating their own software and later created a company initially called Micro-Soft. The text is lively but frequently vague, with occasional odd phrases and ideas left unexplained. For example, when Gates became concerned about poor children around the world dying of diseases for lack of inexpensive vaccines, the text states, “Bill decided to turn caring into action,” but doesn’t specify exactly what he did, missing an opportunity to showcase Gates’ philanthropic work. Mildenberger’s illustrations nicely capture the energy of the text and include brown faces of classmates and on his travels. Young readers and listeners will get the titular message loud and clear.
Eye-opening for young people who often take their technology for granted. (further information, timeline, glossary) (Picture book/biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-176-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
An engaging if disappointingly imperfect introduction to animals and (some of) the foods they eat.
White and Page introduce a variety of animals in this playful informational picture book.
Each color is allotted two double-page spreads, citing four animals that eat a particular color of food before naming a fifth that does not: “Who eats orange?” Rabbits and chickens do. “Who else eats orange? / Goats. // Pigs. / Gorillas too. Gorillas? No! Gorillas don’t eat orange. They eat….” That fifth animal acts as a transition to the next color and set of animals: “[Gorillas eat] Green. Who else eats green? / Giraffes in savannas do.” Observant readers will note that most animals in a color grouping are from a particular habitat, and the fifth animal is always the exception. Page’s digitally rendered illustrations are realistic and inviting, with each animal featured against a stark white background, staring out at readers. White’s text doesn’t name the foods, only the animals and colors, leaving space for readers or listeners to independently interpret the illustrations. The repetition in White’s text encourages pattern recognition and sets readers up for engaging surprises. Organized by color/habitat, a double-page spread of backmatter gives further details on both the animals and foods highlighted. Habitats include ocean, forest, rainforest, tundra, farm, and, unfortunately, the broad continent of Africa. The inclusion of Africa rather than another habitat or biome perpetuates the common idea that the African continent is monolithic, with interchangeable countries and, in this case, a consistent habitat. In another notable misstep, among the red foods eaten by ocean creatures is a bright-red lobster—a color displayed only after they are cooked.
An engaging if disappointingly imperfect introduction to animals and (some of) the foods they eat. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0408-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
Solid, if not revolutionary.
Albee and Ko take their shot at an early-reader biography about Alexander Hamilton.
Emergent readers (and their caregivers) familiar with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical Hamilton will be rewarded with what amounts to an illustrated highlights reel of the founding father’s life. Albee opens in medias res by describing Hamilton as “a soldier, a lawyer, and a financial wizard,” before the spare text quickly brings readers to Hamilton’s Caribbean childhood, noting his father’s abandonment, his mother’s death, and his determined rise from poverty. He’s presented as a trusted adviser to George Washington and rival to Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, with Ko’s accompanying digital art depicting him with a smiling man on horseback (Washington), while on the facing page, the two other men scowl. A later spread notes major differences between Jefferson and Hamilton, including acknowledgment that Jefferson enslaved people while “Hamilton was against slavery,” but Washington’s slave-owner status isn’t named, nor is the American Revolution’s impact on Indigenous peoples. Personal milestones, such as marriage to Eliza Schuyler, are noted alongside references to his involvement in the war and his work with the nascent American government. While his death occurs on the page, strategies to keep the text within the comprehension of its audience risk undermining other historical content by omitting such terms as “revolution” and the Federalist Papers (though they do appear in backmatter).
Solid, if not revolutionary. (Early reader/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-243291-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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