In what is plainly a packager’s distillation of far better work by the noted historian, what should have been exciting and heart-stirring—thanks to strong photographs—is reduced to a hop, skip, and a jump due to a weak text. The arrangement is an appealing one, similar to coffee-table books for adults: the openings are clean and clear—“Quick Facts,” a small photo of an event, the text dealing with the subject at hand (a battle, a place) facing a full-page photo of the event, situation, or characters. The photos are telling; the text, though, skimps on details, facts, and conclusions that the uninformed young reader needs. The Quick Facts recitals of odd bits of detail (how many bombers, clichés about personalities, etc.) are useless unless a reader knows how to fill in the importance of such trivia. But the packager does not provide that essential background information. The photos (most of which may be assumed to have been shot in black and white) are offered in a variety of colors, perhaps to make the presentation more attractive, but even without that, they would be the strongest component. There are no dates for them, however. Each spread treats a different topic, bouncing from one to another with less than obvious connection. So, for instance, the subject of Japanese-American relocation centers is placed in between the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Atlantic. And far too often what are contained in the text are trite phrases and worn-out images. Too bad. (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-84361-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
It took four weeks for illustrations of scenes from the US’s Civil War battles to make it from the front lines to readers’ hands; Morrison (Cheetah, 1998, etc.) explains that process in his uniquely handsome book. Morrison introduces the fictional artist, William Forbes, commissioned by the fictional Burton’s Illustrated News to follow the Union Army into battle at Bull Run. Throughout the day’s fighting Forbes makes quick sketches; it is risky business, and he is often in mortal peril. That night he makes a more complete drawing, which is handed to a courier and taken back to the Burton offices. There, engravers set to work translating Forbes’s drawing to a grid of wood blocks (Morrison includes interesting incidentals along the way, giving the process its due). The images are converted to electrotype, whereafter it is finally ready for the operators and pressman. Shortly after that, the newsboys are seen hawking the illustrated weekly, containing Forbes’s image a mere month after the actual event. Morrison successfully renders the complexities of illustrating newspapers 150 years ago, and just as successfully conveys that in abandoning the wood block for the photograph, some of the art was sacrificed for speed. (glossary) (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-91426-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
paper 1-895688-87-6 Day uses the prehistoric tale of a young girl coming to terms with her fear of bears to explore the world of cave art. Quennu might be able to handle woolly mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers, but cave bears give her the willies. Her clan’s shaman gives her a bear tooth as a talisman to conquer her fear. On the day when the shaman summons all the people to the cave for an ecstatic painting ceremony, Quennu enters the cave after the others have gone on ahead. At one point she is sure she sees the fiery eyes of an enormous cave bear, yet she carries on, the tooth giving her strength. When she finds her clan in the shadowscape of a great chamber, they are singing and dancing and chanting and applying brushes to the cave walls. Quennu joins in, painting the bear, and putting to rest her fears of the creature, but not her respect for it. Day delivers charged, swirling color and smoky imagery in her illustrations, plus the frisson of transportive mystery that may turn children into future history majors. An explanatory page at the end puts the action into context. (Picture book. 7-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-895688-86-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Firefly
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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