Greenwood (A Pioneer Thanksgiving, 1999, etc.) successfully uses several different techniques for telling the story of the Klondike gold rush. Tim Olsen is a young 13-year-old in 1897, with big dreams of being a reporter. And the Klondike Gold Rush is his shot at a big scoop. But when he and his older brother Roy set out for the gold fields, they have no idea of the hardships they will face. The text features a packing list for the stampeders—the groceries alone total over 1,200 pounds—all to be carried up a two-mile long hill, then carried up the infamous Golden Stairs . . . and that’s only the start of the journey. Following excerpts from Tim’s journal, the author tells the progressive adventure of the two brothers and the obstacles they encounter. They meet gamblers, make friends, form partnerships, and work very hard. Along the way, Tim learns about life and its variety of people while he perfects his writing. Throughout the text are informational articles that will help the reader better understand the gold rush. These short, high-interest pieces include such topics as Eric A. Hegg, photographer; Faith Fenton, journalist; boat-building; the Mounted Police; cabin life; and the end of the gold rush. Several recipes and activities are also highlighted in the text, bringing history that much closer to the reader. Pencil drawings are the perfect companion to the text, illustrating the story, while at the same time educating the reader about the time period and the many unfamiliar devices used by the stampeders. Greenwood also includes several of Hegg’s original photographs—windows into the past. A fascinating read. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-55074-852-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The author of Cod’s Tale (2001) again demonstrates a dab hand at recasting his adult work for a younger audience. Here the topic is salt, “the only rock eaten by human beings,” and, as he engrossingly demonstrates, “the object of wars and revolutions” throughout recorded history and before. Between his opening disquisition on its chemical composition and a closing timeline, he explores salt’s sources and methods of extraction, its worldwide economic influences from prehistoric domestication of animals to Gandhi’s Salt March, its many uses as a preservative and industrial product, its culinary and even, as the source for words like “salary” and “salad,” its linguistic history. Along with lucid maps and diagrams, Schindler supplies detailed, sometimes fanciful scenes to go along, finishing with a view of young folk chowing down on orders of French fries as ghostly figures from history look on. Some of Kurlansky’s claims are exaggerated (the Erie and other canals were built to transport more than just salt, for instance), and there are no leads to further resources, but this salutary (in more ways than one) micro-history will have young readers lifting their shakers in tribute. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-399-23998-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care.
In 1977, the oil carrier Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into a formerly pristine Alaskan ocean inlet, killing millions of birds, animals, and fish. Despite a cleanup, crude oil is still there.
The Winters foretold the destructive powers of the atomic bomb allusively in The Secret Project (2017), leaving the actuality to the backmatter. They make no such accommodations to young audiences in this disturbing book. From the dark front cover, on which oily blobs conceal a seabird, to the rescuer’s sad face on the back, the mother-son team emphasizes the disaster. A relatively easy-to-read and poetically heightened text introduces the situation. Oil is pumped from the Earth “all day long, all night long, / day after day, year after year” in “what had been unspoiled land, home to Native people // and thousands of caribou.” The scale of extraction is huge: There’s “a giant pipeline” leading to “enormous ships.” Then, crash. Rivers of oil gush out over three full-bleed wordless pages. Subsequent scenes show rocks, seabirds, and sea otters covered with oil. Finally, 30 years later, animals have returned to a cheerful scene. “But if you lift a rock… // oil / seeps / up.” For an adult reader, this is heartbreaking. How much more difficult might this be for an animal-loving child?
Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 9-12)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3077-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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