A disjointed scrapbook of anecdotes and journal entries, strung together with archival photos. Savage begins with the life of Fannie Sperry, a spirited 19-year-old Montana native who tamed the wild roan, Blue Dog, and was known for her talent for riding untamed horses. Sperry remains the touchstone throughout the remainder of the work—sometimes rather awkwardly. The collection of cowgirl photos should have been the strength here, but too many unsuitable choices have been made for the layout. Sentences cut over two pages to make way for full-paged “sidebars.” And Savage’s definition of the “Old West” is somewhat confusing: she ranges from Montana to Texas to Calgary, Alberta (with no mention that Alberta is in Canada). A map or two would have been a welcome addition. Time periods shift at the author’s whim—the page after a description of the events of 1906 is illustrated with a picture from the 1890s; turn the page: 1911. The fashions of the times were very important to the riders, yet one illustration is merely a faint line drawing from a catalogue, reproduced in pale green ink. The disconnect between illustration and text continues to the very end with a quote from 88-year-old Fannie, paired with a photo of three other female “friends and competitors.” Given the dearth of good material on this subject, readers will be very disappointed in this less than inspired ride. Skip it. (glossary, index, source notes, bibliography of books, videos, and Web sites) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-58246-019-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
It took four weeks for illustrations of scenes from the US’s Civil War battles to make it from the front lines to readers’ hands; Morrison (Cheetah, 1998, etc.) explains that process in his uniquely handsome book. Morrison introduces the fictional artist, William Forbes, commissioned by the fictional Burton’s Illustrated News to follow the Union Army into battle at Bull Run. Throughout the day’s fighting Forbes makes quick sketches; it is risky business, and he is often in mortal peril. That night he makes a more complete drawing, which is handed to a courier and taken back to the Burton offices. There, engravers set to work translating Forbes’s drawing to a grid of wood blocks (Morrison includes interesting incidentals along the way, giving the process its due). The images are converted to electrotype, whereafter it is finally ready for the operators and pressman. Shortly after that, the newsboys are seen hawking the illustrated weekly, containing Forbes’s image a mere month after the actual event. Morrison successfully renders the complexities of illustrating newspapers 150 years ago, and just as successfully conveys that in abandoning the wood block for the photograph, some of the art was sacrificed for speed. (glossary) (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-91426-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
paper 1-895688-87-6 Day uses the prehistoric tale of a young girl coming to terms with her fear of bears to explore the world of cave art. Quennu might be able to handle woolly mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers, but cave bears give her the willies. Her clan’s shaman gives her a bear tooth as a talisman to conquer her fear. On the day when the shaman summons all the people to the cave for an ecstatic painting ceremony, Quennu enters the cave after the others have gone on ahead. At one point she is sure she sees the fiery eyes of an enormous cave bear, yet she carries on, the tooth giving her strength. When she finds her clan in the shadowscape of a great chamber, they are singing and dancing and chanting and applying brushes to the cave walls. Quennu joins in, painting the bear, and putting to rest her fears of the creature, but not her respect for it. Day delivers charged, swirling color and smoky imagery in her illustrations, plus the frisson of transportive mystery that may turn children into future history majors. An explanatory page at the end puts the action into context. (Picture book. 7-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-895688-86-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Firefly
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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