A sweet, sometimes funny tale, context and setting notwithstanding.
A true and colorful account of how an orphaned bear and a unit of Polish soldiers—many of them also orphaned or missing family members—adopted one another.
Drawing from interviews with one living veteran and descendants of others, as well as published sources, Hood tells an affecting tale of how Wojtek (Polish for happy warrior), a Syrian brown bear, came as a cub to the soldiers of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company, a unit training in Persia (now Iran)—and not only served as a morale booster, but actually caught a spy and later provided materiel aid in the battle for Monte Cassino. That he was also, along with a Dalmatian named Kirkuk who was his “polka-dotted partner in crime,” something of a force for chaos in camp adds to his charm, and before the war’s end, he was not only formally enlisted, paybook and all, but promoted to corporal. While many war stories have sad endings, backmatter explains that Wojtek went on to spend a long retirement in the Edinburgh Zoo. Green’s charming, humorous depictions of a sociable, teddy bear–ish cub growing to shaggy adulthood surrounded by uniformed admirers (all White) are echoed in a set of photos in the backmatter, which includes maps, a timeline, and other useful additions. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet, sometimes funny tale, context and setting notwithstanding. (afterword, facts, source list, film and websites, recommended reading) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-306476-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
An engaging and informative true story of perseverance and discovery.
Fern and Kulikov, collaborators on the picture-book biographies Barnum’s Bones (2012) and W is for Webster (2015), bring the self-taught archaeologist who discovered King Tut’s tomb to life.
Howard Carter’s obsession with mummies began when he was a boy in England and visited a nearby mansion filled with ancient Egyptian artifacts. Carter dreamed of discovering a mummy himself. At 17, he took a job copying ancient art for the Egypt Exploration Fund. Awed by the art and architecture he sketched and copied, Carter was eager to make discoveries of his own. He taught himself the methodologies of archaeology, Arabic, geology, Egyptian history, and how to read hieroglyphics. As an antiquities inspector for the Egyptian government, Carter excavated several tombs only to find they had been looted. Undaunted, Carter devised a plan to excavate every unsearched inch in the Valley of the Kings. His dogged persistence paid off in 1922 when he discovered the treasure-filled tomb of Tutankhamun. Quoting from Carter’s own account, Fern infuses her story with excitement. She describes Carter as having a “funky personality” with a “stubborn attitude and worse table manners”; Kulikov’s exaggerated illustrations energetically capture Carter’s ambition and fascination with his subject.
An engaging and informative true story of perseverance and discovery. (author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-374-30305-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
A tad rough around the edges but, visually, at least, a keeper.
A planet's-eye view of some recent visitors from Earth—one in particular.
In measured, deceptively solemn prose, the narrator (Mars itself, as eventually revealed) gets off to a shaky start, observing that the rover rolls on and on, making straight tracks that confusingly become a tangle on the next page. Things settle down thereafter: “It observes. Measures. Collects. It is always looking for water. Maybe it is thirsty.” Roy matches the tone with a set of broad, rugged, achingly remote-looking Mars-scapes that culminate in a wildly swirling dust storm followed by a huge double gatefold: “Everything is… / RED as far as the eye can see. But it is beautiful.” Curiosity itself she depicts with almost clinical precision (though its wheels look different from different angles), adding a schematic view at the end with select parts and instruments labeled. Following playful nods to other rovers along the way (Spirit and Opportunity “had a spirit of adventure and seized every opportunity to explore”), a substantial quantity of backmatter includes more information about each one—including the next one up, Mars 2020—as well as about the fourth planet itself. For audience appeal it’s hard to beat Markus Motum’s cheerfully anthropomorphic Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover (2018), but the art here, in adding a certain grandeur and mystery to the red planet, has an appeal of its own.
A tad rough around the edges but, visually, at least, a keeper. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-19833-4
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
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