Like many others in the …For Kids series, stronger for its content than the promised activities but worth it nevertheless
This substantial biography of the life and times of the great sculptor, painter, poet, and Renaissance man Michelangelo Buonarroti describes its subject’s life in eight chapters.
Following his birth and childhood, his life in Rome, Florence and Bologna, his complicated and often fractious relationships with his patrons—from the early Medicis and the Florentine guilds to the popes—and Michelangelo's connections with other artists are described in leisurely detail. Works that no longer survive, as well as those that are well-known today, including the Pietá, the statue of David, the Sistine ceiling, among others, are described and placed in the context of their times. The book’s three-column horizontal format lends itself well to illustration, with photos of relevant present-day sites as well as key works by the artist. The text is dense, full of anecdotal material, and clearly at a relatively advanced reading level, so the assumption must be that it will be used primarily by teachers and parents as source material. The 21 illustrated activities, consisting mostly of crafts such as homemade paint, soap sculpture, and how to draw to scale, are at a much lower level than the main text and would be satisfying only for very young children. A helpful timeline is included. Backmatter includes a glossary, key figures, resources, notes, and bibliography.
Like many others in the …For Kids series, stronger for its content than the promised activities but worth it nevertheless . (Biography. 9-14)Pub Date: July 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61373-193-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A retro yet timeless story of family and identity.
Martín brings his successful Mexikid Stories online comic series to print.
Living in California’s Central Coast as a first-generation Mexican American, Pedro (or the “American-style” Peter) struggles to find his place. As an American kid growing up in the 1970s, he loves Star Wars and Happy Days but dislikes the way his five oldest siblings, who were born in Mexico, make him feel less Mexican just because he and the three other younger siblings were born after his parents immigrated to the U.S. to work picking strawberries. A family trip to Jalisco to bring their abuelito back to California to live with them presents Pedro with an opportunity to get in touch with his roots and learn more about the places his family calls home. Told from Pedro’s perspective, the panels read as a stream-of-consciousness travelogue as he regales readers with his adventures from the road. Along the way, Pedro has fresh encounters with Mexican culture and experiences some unexpected side quests. Full of humor, heart, and a decent amount of gross-out moments, Martín’s coming-of-age memoir hits all the right notes. Though the family’s travels took place decades ago, the struggles with establishing identity, especially as a child of immigrants whose identity straddles two cultures, feel as current as ever. The vibrant, action-packed panels offer plentiful details for readers to pore over, from scenes of crowded family chaos to the sights of Mexico.
A retro yet timeless story of family and identity. (family photos, author’s note) (Graphic memoir. 9-14)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780593462287
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
