The best athletes play with their smarts as well as their talent, and that point shines in this testament to one of hockey’s...
A clever introduction to the game-changing career of profession hockey goalie Jacques Plante.
Little Jacques hasn’t got a puck, so he plays summer hockey with a ball. “Hey, that’s not hockey!” He plays goal with a stump of a tree, his pads are potato sacks and wooden pads. “Hey, that’s not hockey!” Jacques doesn’t care, he just wants to play. But when readers see him don the shirt of the Montreal Canadiens, they (or at least their adult caregivers) realize this is not just any feel-good tale, but the story of Jacques Plante, such a force in the net that he won best goalie honors time and again. Jacques was ever the rebel, going his own way. Hockey players are notorious for staying on the ice through injuries, and before Plante, goalies got the worst of it. Plante fashioned a mask out of fiberglass to prevent facial injuries. At first he is booed for being a weenie—“Hey, that’s not hockey!”—but Poulin presents him as a man with a common-sensical survival instinct who could still beat just about any team even with a mask on. Girard’s illustrations are packed with action and give a sense of the mayhem on ice. His cast of players and coaches is an all-white one.
The best athletes play with their smarts as well as their talent, and that point shines in this testament to one of hockey’s greatest, and brainiest, players. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77321-051-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering.
An honestly told biography of an important politician whose name every American should know.
Published while the United States has its first African-American president, this story of John Roy Lynch, the first African-American speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, lays bare the long and arduous path black Americans have walked to obtain equality. The title’s first three words—“The Amazing Age”—emphasize how many more freedoms African-Americans had during Reconstruction than for decades afterward. Barton and Tate do not shy away from honest depictions of slavery, floggings, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow laws, or the various means of intimidation that whites employed to prevent blacks from voting and living lives equal to those of whites. Like President Barack Obama, Lynch was of biracial descent; born to an enslaved mother and an Irish father, he did not know hard labor until his slave mistress asked him a question that he answered honestly. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, Lynch had a long and varied career that points to his resilience and perseverance. Tate’s bright watercolor illustrations often belie the harshness of what takes place within them; though this sometimes creates a visual conflict, it may also make the book more palatable for young readers unaware of the violence African-Americans have suffered than fully graphic images would. A historical note, timeline, author’s and illustrator’s notes, bibliography and map are appended.
A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering. (Picture book biography. 7-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5379-0
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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