Poignant storytelling that absolutely blooms.
The story of an intrepid rosarian who cultivated not only a new variety of rose, but also a glimmer of hope when the world needed it most.
Born in 1912, Francis Meilland grew up on his family’s farm in southern France, where they grew fruits, vegetables, and roses. After becoming fascinated with cross-pollination, he began experimenting to create a new rose of his very own. He tried for many years and finally grew “an enormous rose—five inches across in full bloom—with petals that shaded from pale ivory at the center through creamy yellow to a fringe of deep pink at their outer edges.” Tragically, the world was thrust into World War II soon after. Meilland rushed to send clippings of the new rose to growers. The rose thrived and was given many different names around the globe, none more apt than Peace, the name given to the flower by U.S. grower Robert Pyle. Exquisite watercolors by Ibatoulline starkly contrast sun-drenched rose gardens with smudged, fragile battlefields, highlighting the many strands woven into the flower’s journey. The narrative adeptly adds botanical information (with more facts appended in an afterword), making for a compelling combination of history and science. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Poignant storytelling that absolutely blooms. (glossary, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: April 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0843-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes.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
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
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