An adequate tribute to an Americana icon and his musical legacy.
This picture book is both a biography of Bill Monroe and a history of bluegrass music, the genre he was instrumental in creating.
While Monroe’s childhood was beset with struggle—having crossed eyes and losing his mother at age 10—there were also times of great joy, such as the jamborees on the front porch of the family home. Singing and playing music brought comfort to young Bill. As an adolescent he played mandolin at country dances with his uncle Pen. Later, he moved to Chicago and played in a band with his brothers, all the while collecting the sounds of the various genres he encountered in the city. Text and illustrations both make note of the influence African-American musicians had on Monroe during this time; however, the lack of acknowledgement of the segregated conditions of both the music industry and Monroe’s home state of Kentucky is a missed opportunity to place his story within its historical context. Eventually, Monroe established his own band, taking the original yet familiar sounds of bluegrass all across the country. The book’s tone is nostalgic, with folksy narration and caricature-esque illustrations. Though this kitsch brings with it a certain appeal, it also unfortunately strips the book of the rugged emotion so characteristic of bluegrass music.
An adequate tribute to an Americana icon and his musical legacy. (author’s note, bibliography, song lyrics) (Picture book/biography. 5-9)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62979-439-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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