A silly story that weaves in a fair amount of history.
In the debut volume of the Time Twisters series, Abraham Lincoln arrives at Abby and Doc’s school to prove that history isn’t boring.
But history certainly seems boring when students read in their textbook: “Abraham Lincoln turned to the next page of the newspaper. He took a sip of coffee. He put his feet up on his desk. He read some more.” Even Ms. Maybee admits the book is “a little dry.” Fortunately, Lincoln arrives via a cardboard box in the storage room to rescue history. It’s stories that make history interesting, and they’ve disappeared from the textbooks. Miffed, Lincoln returns to his own time, and Abby and Doc follow him (“like The Magic Treehouse,” Abby notes). He says he and his fellow historical characters—Pocahontas, Washington, Harriet Tubman—can hear students snoring in class and are fed up. “Since you insist on saying our lives are boring, well then, we’ll show you,” Lincoln says, announcing that he’s quitting history. In the course of a silly tale, Sheinkin leads his protagonists to the stories that make Lincoln and his times interesting, which prompts them to find a way to get them back into the books. In Swaab’s illustrations, Abby seems to be white and Doc, black. By the end, readers will have learned quite a bit of history along with the protagonists, without being bored at all. When young readers are ready, they can move on to Sheinkin’s not-boring histories, such as Bomb (2012).
A silly story that weaves in a fair amount of history. (historical note) (Historical fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-15246-6
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
A rousing introduction to the life of a voyageur told from a unique perspective.
Stowing away with French Canadian fur traders in 1792, a loquacious red squirrel embarks on a life-changing adventure.
Each spring, Jean Pierre Petit Le Rouge, a squirrel with wanderlust, watches brave, strong voyageurs depart in canoes from Montreal and return the following autumn. Determined to be a voyageur, Le Rouge hides in a canoe paddled by eight stout voyageurs, part of a brigade of five. Soon his incessant chattering distracts the voyageurs, who become separated from the rest of the brigade, but, after ascending the highest tree, he points the crew back on course. More than once, pesky Le Rouge barely escapes becoming squirrel ragout. He’s just beginning to feel like a real voyageur when they reach the trading post on Lake Superior, where he discovers the voyageurs exchanging their cargo for animal skins to return to Montreal. Heartsick, Le Rouge decides he cannot be a voyageur if it involves trading animal skins, unless he can change things. Le Rouge relates his story with drama and flair, presenting a colorful prism through which to view the daily life of a voyageur. Peppered with historical facts and (italicized) French phrases and names, this exciting, well-documented tale (with a contemporary animal-rights subtext) proves educational and entertaining. Realistic pencil drawings highlight Le Rouge’s memorable journey.
A rousing introduction to the life of a voyageur told from a unique perspective. (map, pronunciation guide, historical and biological notes, recipe, further reading) (Historical fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4247-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
“By March 5, 1770, it was dangerous to be a soldier in Boston.” In a few lines of terse prose illustrated with densely hatched black-and-white pictures, Decker lays out the causes of the tension between Bostonians and British troops, and then delivers a blow-by-blow account of events on that March night and the ensuing trials. Along with casting a grim tone over all, his dark, crowded illustrations capture the incident’s confusion and also add details to the narrative. Despite some questionable choices—he names most of the soldiers but none of the casualties, and except for a row of coffins in one picture, never mentions how many actually died—the author leaves readers with a general understanding of what happened, and with a final scene of John Adams (who defended the soldiers in court) pondering the necessity of protecting true Liberty from the “lawless mob,” some food for thought as well. (Informational picture book. 9-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59078-608-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2009
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