Barner’s idea is a good one: to use Paul Revere’s ride to teach map skills. He uses a team of mice to illustrate how Revere got from his home in Boston to Lexington; the mice have to avoid their enemies, sinister rats who break bridges and turn signs around. However, Barner never quite explains who Revere is, nor why the ride is famous, until the author’s note at the end. Rich colors, silhouette figures, and jazzy graphics draw readers in and bring some order to the confusion of the opening pages, which offer no context for the two lights at the Old North Church (the text begins on the title page) or any sort of date or historical milieu. A final section encourages children to attempt their own maps; it will be up to adults to flesh out the innovative, but bare- bones discussion. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 15, 1998
ISBN: 0-8234-1352-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1998
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
An affecting snapshot of a tragic day.
An old, unwanted cart becomes part of Dr. Martin Luther King’s funeral procession.
Two men borrow the cart from an antiques store and paint it green, the color of freshly watered grass. They take it to the Ebenezer Baptist Church and hitch two mules to it. Outside the church, crowds gather, while inside, the pews are filled with a weeping congregation. Slowly, the mules pull the cart carrying Dr. King’s coffin through the streets of Atlanta to Morehouse College for a second service. The cart, its day’s journey completed, is now part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. Bunting uses simple declarative sentences to capture the sorrow of the day and the message that King’s followers were intent upon proclaiming—his greatness came from humble beginnings. The mules, Belle and Ada, were a reminder that upon freedom, slaves were given forty acres and a mule. Tate’s pencil-and-gouache artwork plays up the details of the cart and the two mules while depicting the crowds of mourners less distinctly. Adults looking for a title to share with young readers will find this helpful in imparting the emotions raised by King’s assassination.
An affecting snapshot of a tragic day. (afterword) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58089-387-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2013
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