Will give some readers inspiration and ideas for ways that they can help their own communities right now (Collective...
People from different countries and eras who have achieved significant accomplishments by the age of 18 are the subjects of this contemporary collective biography, which opposes jaunty, intensely colored portraits against breezy, one-page descriptions.
Under each illustration, there is often a personal quotation. For example, Katie Stagliano, who started a foundation called Katie’s Krops that encourages young people to grow vegetables to feed the hungry, said: “I believe that youth have the power to do incredible things.” Indeed. Pablo Picasso, Louis Armstrong, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Clara Schumann are well-known for having developed their talents early. Perhaps the more interesting figures are the kids who are still teenagers or in their early 20s now. Young women, including trans woman activist Jazz Jennings, and young men from countries including the U.S., Canada, Zambia, India, Pakistan, Brazil, and Syria are among the currently living biographees. Joining Malala Yousafzai are Mongolian Aisholpan Nurgaiv, a champion eagle hunter (unusual both for her age and gender), and Rhode Islander Nicholas Lowinger, a young Jew who founded Gotta Have Sole, an organization that provides new shoes to kids in homeless shelters. Unfortunately, there are no source notes or bibliography, and while the selections are gender-balanced and laudably diverse, there are few Latinx people, and the only Native Americans are Sacagawea and Pocahontas.
Will give some readers inspiration and ideas for ways that they can help their own communities right now (Collective biography. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2917-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
In no particular order and using no set criteria for his selections, veteran sportscaster Berman pays tribute to an arbitrary gallery of baseball stars—all familiar names and, except for the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, retired from play for decades. Repeatedly taking the stance that statistics are just numbers but then reeling off batting averages, home-run totals, wins (for pitchers) and other data as evidence of greatness, he offers career highlights in a folksy narrative surrounded by photos, side comments and baseball-card–style notes in side boxes. Readers had best come to this with some prior knowledge, since he casually drops terms like “slugging percentage,” “dead ball era” and “barnstorming” without explanation and also presents a notably superficial picture of baseball’s history—placing the sport’s “first half-century” almost entirely in the 1900s, for instance, and condescendingly noting that Jackie Robinson’s skill led Branch Rickey to decide that he “was worthy of becoming the first black player to play in the majors.” The awesome feats of Ruth, Mantle, the Gibsons Bob and Josh, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb and the rest are always worth a recap—but this one’s strictly minor league. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3886-4
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
A spirited biography untangles the accretion of myth and story around Pocahontas and makes clear what little is actually known and what fragments of the historical record are available. The text is rich in illustration and in sidebars (on longhouses, colonial diet, weaponry and so on) that illuminate the central narrative. Whether Pocahontas saved John Smith’s life directly or as part of an elaborate ritual might not matter, argues Jones. Pocahontas and her people were certainly responsible for keeping the English settlement of Jamestown from starvation. Relations between English settlers and Native people were uneasy at best, and the author traces these carefully, relating how Pocahontas was later kidnapped by the British and held for ransom. When none was forthcoming, she was converted both to English ways and the Christian religion, marrying the widower John Rolfe and traveling to England, where Pocahontas saw John Smith once again and died at about the age of 21. An excellent stab at myth busting and capturing the nuances of both the figure and her times. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-6844-6
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
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