A moving tale of triumph that brings the past to life.
Moore pays tribute to his great-great-grandfather’s courage and determination to be free.
When Robert Smalls was 12, he moved 70 miles from Beaufort to Charleston, South Carolina. America’s richest city at the time, Charleston built its wealth on the backs of enslaved people. Still enslaved but living semi-independently, Robert took advantage of the locale to learn to sail. When the Civil War began in 1861, Robert, now in his early 20s, married a woman named Hannah and had two children, Robert Jr. and Elizabeth. Hannah and the children belonged to slave master Samuel Kingman. When Robert asked Kingman if he could buy his family, Kingman agreed, and Robert put down a $100 deposit against the $800 total. Afterward, Robert had a better idea. With the help of other Black sailors, he commandeered a Confederate steamer while the white crew were ashore. With several other enslaved people and his family, he escaped to freedom. In an author’s note, Moore explains that Smalls later served in Congress; Moore is now seeking the same seat his ancestor held. He deftly retells this historical story, heightening the suspense and emphasizing Smalls’ tenacity, while Collier’s rich collage illustrations set the scene. Images of silhouetted faces in the sky make clear that the next generations of Black children are watching and waiting; freedom will make their existence possible.
A moving tale of triumph that brings the past to life. (Picture-book biography. 8-10)Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9781250818355
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Godwin Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Shot through with vague generalities and paired to a mix of equally generic period images and static new art, this overview remorselessly sucks all the juice from its topic.
This survey of the growth of industries in this country from the Colonial period to the post–World War II era is written in the driest of textbook-ese: “Factories needed good transportation so that materials could reach them and so that materials could reach buyers”; “The metal iron is obtained by heating iron ore”; “In 1860, the North said that free men, not slaves, should do the work.” This text is supplemented by a jumble of narrative-overview blocks, boxed side observations and terse captions on each thematic spread. The design is packed with overlapping, misleadingly seamless and rarely differentiated mixes of small, heavily trimmed contemporary prints or (later) photos and drab reconstructions of workshop or factory scenes, along with pictures of significant inventions and technological innovations (which are, in several cases, reduced to background design elements). The single, tiny map has no identifying labels. Other new entries in the All About America series deal similarly with Explorers, Trappers, and Pioneers, A Nation of Immigrants and Stagecoaches and Railroads. Utilitarian, at best—but more likely to dim reader interest than kindle it. (index, timeline, resource lists) (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7534-6670-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
It’s an often-told story, but the author is still in a position to give it a unique perspective.
The author of Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America (2004) tells her father’s tale again, for younger readers.
Though using a less personal tone this time and referring to herself in the third person, Robinson still devotes as much attention to his family life, youth and post-baseball career as she does to his achievements on the field. Writing in short sentences and simple language, she presents a clear picture of the era’s racial attitudes and the pressures he faced both in the military service and in baseball—offering plenty of clear reasons to regard him not just as a champion athlete, but as a hero too. An early remark about how he ran with “a bunch of black, Japanese, and Mexican boys” while growing up in Pasadena is insensitively phrased, and a sweeping claim that by 1949 “[t]he racial tension was broken” in baseball is simplistic. Nevertheless, by and large her account covers the bases adequately. The many photos include an admixture of family snapshots, and a closing Q-and-A allows the author to announce the imminent release of a new feature film about Robinson.
It’s an often-told story, but the author is still in a position to give it a unique perspective. (Biography. 8-10)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-54006-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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