by Carole Lexa Schaefer ; illustrated by Becca Stadtlander ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 9, 2018
A carefully designed book that brings the past and the hand-created objects of the past to full-blooded life.
Fourteen “one-of-a-kind” Colonial American objects are given stories of how and why they came to be.
Taking actual objects crafted in the 18th and 19th centuries in mostly the northern and eastern parts of the United States, Schaefer spins stories to give the objects historical context and life. Some objects have been well-documented and so the stories around them are factual, but others’ histories are more shrouded, so Schaefer has taken the liberty of imagining, using authentic details to the time period, their creations. Illustrator Stadtlander matches these stories with primitive gouache paintings that evoke the work of the limners of the era and are full of rich, saturated colors, incorporating appropriate details and creating an authentic atmosphere with their style. Adding to the Colonial Americana look is the Eric Sloane–like display type used for headings and the onomatopoeic words (which cleverly mimic the sounds of the objects’ creations). Except for those depicted in the stories of a tin box crafted by a freed slave in Virginia in order to carry his freedom papers and of a bandolier bag crafted by an unknown Ojibwe, all people illustrated are white. The objects run the gamut, including a circa-1850 scrimshaw pie crimper, an embroidery sampler from 1798, and a terrestrial globe from 1810.
A carefully designed book that brings the past and the hand-created objects of the past to full-blooded life. (author’s note, further information) (Informational picture book. 6-12)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7433-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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by J. Torres ; illustrated by David Namisato ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 2021
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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by J. Torres ; illustrated by Aurélie Grand
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by Lois Lowry ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1989
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
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by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by Jonathan Stroh
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