Despite some bright spots, the lapses in information limit this book’s effectiveness.
Celebrations the world over involve parades, foods, traditional clothing, masks, songs, and games.
Information on 14 festivals, country maps, small photos, sidebars with holiday traditions (in the appropriate language, with pronunciations), and instructions for a craft or a recipe make up the jam-packed left-hand page of each spread. Colorful, detailed cartoon illustrations appear opposite. There are certainly interesting facts and activities, but careless errors (including a typo to be corrected in the second printing) and a decided slant toward Western Europe (five countries) diminish the volume’s value. Opening with a monthly timeline, it offers a basic explanation of the lunar calendar, but this is not integrated into the overall schematic. This spread also includes a note about adult help for crafting and cooking. Many of the holidays are commonly celebrated in many places, and the author’s failure to point out that Eid al-Fitr, for instance, is celebrated around the globe and not just in Egypt is a sad, missed opportunity. A few festivals are not often presented in books of this ilk, such as Bhutan’s Dangpai Losar (New Year) and Laternenfest, held on St. Martin’s Day in Germany. The last spread brings children from the different countries together and asks readers to create their own celebrations. Sadly, given the glancing notice necessitated by the format, there are no further resources included.
Despite some bright spots, the lapses in information limit this book’s effectiveness. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4549-3213-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An attractive volume introducing an important American to young readers.
Jane Addams’ life was dedicated to helping others.
Jane Addams knew how it felt to be sad, lonely, and in pain. Her mother died when Jane was 2, and Jane contracted spinal tuberculosis at age 4, leaving her with a crooked back and toes that pointed in. “She felt like the ugly duckling / in her storybook: / different, / unwanted, / hopeless.” So, when she rode into town with her father and saw the poverty other people faced—“the rundown shacks, / sad, hungry parents, / cold, barefoot children”—the beginnings of her social conscience were stirred. She got a good education, traveled throughout Europe, and committed herself to helping the poor. Toynbee Hall, a settlement house in London, inspired her to establish the now-famous Hull House in Chicago. At first Jane was beloved, the New York Evening Post even suggesting she run for president. But Addams became controversial for her peace efforts during World War I, and the FBI labeled her “the Most Dangerous Woman in America.” However, she went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Slade tells the purposively inspiring story with a poetic flair, and Ratterree’s pale, evocatively washed-out watercolor illustrations are richly detailed (though hands seem to be her nemesis as an artist). They make the most of the book’s oversize trim, giving space to the free-verse text. A “More about Dangerous Jane” section mostly retells the story, with a few new details added.
An attractive volume introducing an important American to young readers. (Picture book/biography. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-56145-913-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
A patchwork production, far less seaworthy than, for instance, Sally Walker’s two titles on the subject.
The story of the first attack submarine’s drastically brief career and, nearly a century and a half later, rediscovery.
Even though it was, as the author artlessly puts it, “well-designed and well-crafted in the American spirit of invention,” the H.L. Hunley sank repeatedly in tests and never came back from its first mission in 1864. Rather than go into details about how the submarine worked (sort of), Hawk opts to extend her simply written version of its exploits with tangentially related chapters on the battle of Shiloh, the end of the Civil War, and an undocumented (she admits) legend that romantically links a gold coin found in the wreck with the sub’s captain, George Dixon, and a Southern belle named Queenie Bennet. Likewise, Wyrick’s uncaptioned reconstructions of battle scenes and the submarine underwater (which are not always placed near the actions they describe) don’t serve quite as well as the more informative period views of the vessel and its interior that have been used to illustrate other treatments. The account switches to photos and does go into somewhat more detail when describing how the wreck was found in 1995, raised in 2000, and transported to a lab; in a final chapter, a conservator and an archaeologist describe their still-ongoing restoration work.
A patchwork production, far less seaworthy than, for instance, Sally Walker’s two titles on the subject. (map, resource lists) (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61117-788-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Young Palmetto Books
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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