Redmond shares title and topic with Patricia Clyne’s 1976 (long o.p.) collective biography, but offers more profiles—24, plus shorter references—at an easier reading level. Along with better known figures, such as Deborah Sampson, Betsy Ross, and Sibyl Ludington, she relates colorful, courageous exploits from such local heroes as Mammy Kate, a slave who carried her master out of captivity in a laundry basket, the Oneida Polly Cooper, Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson’s successful effort to free her son (and later president) Andy, and not one but two “Molly Pitchers.” Writing for children who have to be told what a “petticoat” is, the author keeps her language simple, underplaying grisly details, as well as violence done by and to Native Americans in the war. She pauses frequently for side essays: on the education of colonial women, on Ben Franklin’s efforts to have the turkey declared the national bird, etc. She closes with a vague tribute to “women patriots” today, meaning, apparently, anyone in uniform or community service. Illustrated with a mix of 19th-century art and modern photos of monuments or artifacts, this entry in the venerable Landmark Books series will serve equally well as middle-grade assignment fodder or a consciousness raiser. (timeline, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2004
ISBN: 0-375-82357-3
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2003
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
Categories: GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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McDonald’s irrepressible third-grader (Judy Moody Gets Famous, 2001, etc.) takes a few false steps before hitting full stride. This time, not only has her genius little brother Stink submitted a competing entry in the Crazy Strips Band-Aid design contest, but in the wake of her science teacher’s heads-up about rainforest destruction and endangered animals, she sees every member of her family using rainforest products. It’s all more than enough to put her in a Mood, which gets her in trouble at home for letting Stink’s pet toad, Toady, go free, and at school for surreptitiously collecting all the pencils (made from rainforest cedar) in class. And to top it off, Stink’s Crazy Strips entry wins a prize, while she gets . . . a certificate. Chronicled amusingly in Reynolds’s frequent ink-and-tea drawings, Judy goes from pillar to post—but she justifies the pencil caper convincingly enough to spark a bottle drive that nets her and her classmates not only a hundred seedling trees for Costa Rica, but the coveted school Giraffe Award (given to those who stick their necks out), along with T-shirts and ice cream coupons. Judy’s growing corps of fans will crow “Rare!” right along with her. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1446-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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