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BENI'S WAR

Readers coping with shattered contemporary realities will recognize themselves in a child’s fears and growing empathy.

When a 12-year-old’s tiny country is invaded, everyone is touched by war.

Beni doesn’t like his new home on the moshav in this Israeli farming community. He misses Jerusalem, and he’s bullied by the other boys. But everything changes on the Yom Kippur holiday in 1973 when his country is unexpectedly invaded. Beni lives only a 10-minute drive from the border with Syria, and his home takes heavy fire from mortar shells. After hours in a shelter, Beni emerges to rubble and burning fields. Evacuated to his grandparents’ house, he can’t stop worrying about his brother, Motti, headed to the Egyptian front in a tank. But life goes on, even in a national crisis. Beni learns about fixing cars, becomes friends with the boys who were once his enemies, and always, always, worries about Motti. When Beni’s family receives devastating and terrifying news, he just wants to feel less helpless. And so Beni embarks on a quest to help his brother. His rage at Egypt conflicts with his emerging questions about Egyptian prisoners of war: Do they eat the same food, have the same fears as the Israelis? 1970s Israel is fully realized with loving attention to detail, and subplots about daily human concerns further round out the characters. The Jewish characters are cued as Ashkenazim.

Readers coping with shattered contemporary realities will recognize themselves in a child’s fears and growing empathy. (historical note) (Historical fiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-5415-7886-9

Page Count: 280

Publisher: Kar-Ben

Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020

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BEN FRANKLIN'S IN MY BATHROOM!

It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that...

Antics both instructive and embarrassing ensue after a mysterious package left on their doorstep brings a Founding Father into the lives of two modern children.

Summoned somehow by what looks for all the world like an old-time crystal radio set, Ben Franklin turns out to be an amiable sort. He is immediately taken in hand by 7-year-old Olive for a tour of modern wonders—early versions of which many, from electrical appliances in the kitchen to the Illinois town’s public library and fire department, he justly lays claim to inventing. Meanwhile big brother Nolan, 10, tags along, frantic to return him to his own era before either their divorced mom or snoopy classmate Tommy Tuttle sees him. Fleming, author of Ben Franklin’s Almanac (2003) (and also, not uncoincidentally considering the final scene of this outing, Our Eleanor, 2005), mixes history with humor as the great man dispenses aphorisms and reminiscences through diverse misadventures, all of which end well, before vanishing at last. Following a closing, sequel-cueing kicker (see above) she then separates facts from fancies in closing notes, with print and online leads to more of the former. To go with spot illustrations of the evidently all-white cast throughout the narrative, Fearing incorporates change-of-pace sets of sequential panels for Franklin’s biographical and scientific anecdotes. Final illustrations not seen.

It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that adds flavor without weight. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 9-11)

Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-101-93406-7

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017

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FOR LIBERTY

THE STORY OF THE BOSTON MASSACRE

“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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