A strong, upbeat introduction to a bold figure.
An affectionate picture-book biography of Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren.
Elizabeth Warren has always had a passionate drive for equity and justice, Wood begins. Because of her awareness of class differentials and the sexism she experienced as a working mother, Elizabeth decided to use her passion for debating and her strong sense of justice to become a lawyer, starting her own one-woman practice out of her home after graduating from law school. Prompted by her personal experiences, she seized her moment as she ran for and won a seat in the United States Senate, becoming both the first woman senator from Massachusetts and a fighter for women and working people across the country. Wood’s bookended use of the refrain “She insisted. / She resisted. / She persisted” emphasizes Warren’s fortitude and frames the rest of the narrative. Wood does mention that Warren claims “Native American ancestry” in an author’s note but does not interrogate this, simply noting that her claim “came into question” during her campaign and citing Warren’s response. With a colorful but muted palette, full-bleed spreads, and clear lines, Green’s illustrations feel calm and steadfast, matching Wood’s portrayal of Warren. Background characters are shown with diverse skin tones, hair, body types, family structures, and gender expressions.
A strong, upbeat introduction to a bold figure. (author’s note) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3162-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly laudatory.
The iconic animator introduces young readers to each “happy place” in his life.
The tally begins with his childhood home in Marceline, Missouri, and climaxes with Disneyland (carefully designed to be “the happiest place on Earth”), but the account really centers on finding his true happy place, not on a map but in drawing. In sketching out his early flubs and later rocket to the top, the fictive narrator gives Ub Iwerks and other Disney studio workers a nod (leaving his labor disputes with them unmentioned) and squeezes in quick references to his animated films, from Steamboat Willie to Winnie the Pooh (sans Fantasia and Song of the South). Eliopoulos incorporates stills from the films into his cartoon illustrations and, characteristically for this series, depicts Disney as a caricature, trademark mustache in place on outsized head even in childhood years and child sized even as an adult. Human figures default to white, with occasional people of color in crowd scenes and (ahistorically) in the animation studio. One unidentified animator builds up the role-modeling with an observation that Walt and Mickey were really the same (“Both fearless; both resourceful”). An assertion toward the end—“So when do you stop being a child? When you stop dreaming”—muddles the overall follow-your-bliss message. A timeline to the EPCOT Center’s 1982 opening offers photos of the man with select associates, rodent and otherwise. An additional series entry, I Am Marie Curie, publishes simultaneously, featuring a gowned, toddler-sized version of the groundbreaking physicist accepting her two Nobel prizes.
Blandly laudatory. (bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2875-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
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