In the My Name Is America series, Durbin (Wintering, 1999, etc.) offers the story of Sean Sullivan, whose first day in Omaha, Nebraska, brings him face to face with a victim of an Indian attack; the man survived, but carries his bloody scalp in a bucket. It’s August 1897, and Sean has just arrived from Chicago, planning to work with his father on the Intercontinental Railroad. Pa, who carries terrible memories of his stint in the Civil War and of the death three years ago of Sean’s mother, is already a foreman for the railroad, but Sean must start at the bottom, as a water carrier, toting barrels of it to the thirsty men who are doing the back-breaking work on the line. At night, everyone is usually too tired to do anything but sleep, but Sundays are free, and Sean discovers the rough and rowdy world of the towns that seem to sprout up from nowhere along the railroad’s path over the prairie. Through Sean’s eyes, the history of this era and the magnitude of his and his fellow workers’ achievements come alive; Durbin has no trouble making Sean’s world palpable, and readers will slog along with Sean every step of the way on his long and arduous journey to building a railroad and becoming a man. (b&w maps, photos, reproductions) (Fiction. 8-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-439-04994-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1999
One of a four-book series designed to help the very young prepare for new siblings, this title presents a toddler-and-mother pair (the latter heavily pregnant) as they read about new babies, sort hand-me-downs, buy new toys, visit the obstetrician and the sonographer, speculate and wait. Throughout, the child asks questions and makes exclamations with complete enthusiasm: “How big is the baby? What does it eat? I felt it move! Is it a boy or girl?” Fuller’s jolly pictures present a biracial family that thoroughly enjoys every moment together. It’s a bit oversimplified, but no one can complain about the positive message it conveys, appropriately, to its baby and toddler audience. The other titles in the New Baby series are My New Baby (ISBN: 978-1-84643-276-7), Look at Me! (ISBN: 978-1-84643-278-1) and You and Me (ISBN: 978-1-84643-277-4). (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84643-275-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
Wood (Making the World, 1998, etc.) tackles the enormity of death and the meaning of prayer in a way that is both accessible and meaningful. A boy walks with his grandfather, who is his best friend. As they stroll through woods and past streams, the boy asks those questions that grandparents are on earth to answer—“Why?” “What if?”—and about prayers. Lucidly, the grandfather explains that trees “pray” as they reach for the sky, that waters pray, that the wind prays and sings at the same time. When people pray, “a prayer is often its own answer.” The grandfather dies, and the narrator finds it impossible to pray anymore; one day, when he is older, he discovers the woods again, and finds his own prayers. The deeply naturalistic watercolors portray the wild exquisitely, and the boy and grandfather are timelessly rendered in jeans, corduroys, and plaids. Some of the spreads are stunning: a close-up of the boy in the grass with a tiny clover in his fist, and only Grandad’s knees visible; or a ground-level view, looking up, past the upturned faces of the pair to the sun shining through the trees above. This is a depiction of the spiritual that is without reference to a particular faith or tradition, and that doesn’t lapse into greeting-card platitudes; Wood conveys a sense of something larger in the world, and gives voice to the human longing to understand. (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7636-0660-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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