A lyrical look at challenges faced by immigrants of color and how they’ve flourished.
These poems celebrating immigrants of color are “created, written and illustrated by first- and second-generation immigrants of color.”
The biographies are of people from different parts of the world who have come to the United States and made significant contributions in their various fields, raising awareness of their many challenges and the wide range of immigration stories. They include the well known, like Somali American Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who’s Chinese American, as well as ones whose achievements are far less recognized, like Paralympic medalist Alejandro Albor, a Mexican American; Korean American comics artist Jim Lee; and the Latinx poet/activist group, the Undocupoets. The inspirational, free-verse poems, all penned by Salazar, briefly share each immigrant’s journey to the United States and beyond. One double-page spread is allotted to each, each illustrated by a different artist; the art is diverse in style, uniformly well crafted, and appropriately kid focused for each subject. Tracy Guiteau’s portrait of a young Edwidge Danticat, for instance, places her with a giant pencil and a blank book against the bright buildings of Port-au-Prince. Backmatter includes brief extended bios of all the people featured along with contributor bios and notes from Chau, who conceived the book, and Salazar. Though a natural choice during immigration and poetry units, it’s more an inspiration and introduction than a research tool in itself.
A lyrical look at challenges faced by immigrants of color and how they’ve flourished. (Picture book/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-55287-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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