A delight to eye and ear alike, this biography provides an abundant dignity and beauty worthy of its subject.
The life of a great children’s book author and illustrator is set in context.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in the Hotel Bossert, to a father who favored her brothers, Barbara Cooney (1917-2000) bonded with her mother over the art that would become her eventual career. Restricted for many years to black-and-white etchings after becoming a picture-book illustrator (an editor told her she lacked a sense of color), Cooney excelled when, after about 40 books, she let her colors flow upon the page. She was an inveterate traveler whose heart was most aligned with Maine, where she’d spent summers as a child. All this culminated in her work to restore a library there, shortly before her death. Kunkel’s text eschews the rote biographical format so common in other books, unafraid to muse that “a life is more than a timeline, dates set down in black and white.” Cooney’s own life is thus complemented with consistently inventive descriptions of her adventures (“Barbara drives a yellow Volkswagen across a brown landscape, soaking up sun, and color, and light”). The result is a celebration of the living of a good life rather than a focus on her successes in her chosen field. Meanwhile, the book’s gouache art evokes Cooney’s own without replicating it. The delicate lines and colors serve as a spectacular homage in and of themselves.
A delight to eye and ear alike, this biography provides an abundant dignity and beauty worthy of its subject. (author’s note, bibliography) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593484388
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist.
Frida Kahlo’s strong affection for and identification with animals form the lens through which readers view her life and work in this picture-book biography.
Each two-page spread introduces one or more of her pets, comparing her characteristics to theirs and adding biographical details. Confusingly for young readers, the beginning pages reference pets she owned as an adult, yet the illustrations and events referred to come from earlier in her life. Bonito the parrot perches in a tree overlooking young Frida and her family in her childhood home and pops up again later, just before the first mention of Diego Rivera. Granizo, the fawn, another pet from her adult years, is pictured beside a young Frida and her father along with a description of “her life as a little girl.” The author’s note adds important details about Kahlo’s life and her significance as an artist, as well as recommending specific paintings that feature her beloved animals. Expressive acrylic paintings expertly evoke Kahlo’s style and color palette. While young animal lovers will identify with her attachment to her pets and may enjoy learning about the Aztec origins of her Xolo dogs and the meaning of turkeys in ancient Mexico, the book may be of most interest to those who already have an interest in Kahlo’s life.
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4269-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
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