This life of an artist with a social conscience makes itself heard.
Art and protest meld perfectly in the life of a 20th-century artist.
Born into a family of Jewish artisans in early-20th-century Lithuania, Ben Shahn wanted to draw, but there was no money for paper. Instead, he sketched in the margins of his book of Bible stories. After his father, a labor activist, was exiled to Siberia, the family eventually made their way to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Shahn was teased in school because of his accent but won the bullies over with his drawings. His teachers encouraged his talent. Having to quit school to work, Shahn was able to apprentice to a lithographer and attend art school. There, his teachers told him that “pictures should be beautiful—not real life.” Shahn thought otherwise. He went on to paint 23 pictures of the Sacco-Vanzetti trial and worked for the FDR administration photographing the American “outsiders” who needed relief and painting murals for a new village for garment workers. Despite threats from the FBI during the McCarthy era, Shahn continued to paint protesters and peace lovers. Levinson’s strong narrative is supported by emotive, brilliantly vibrant paintings in gouache, acrylic, pencil, chalk, and linoleum block prints. One triptych offers powerful images of the Shahns immigrating to NYC; it’s followed by scenes of the neighborhood with its jumble of new streets and foods. Well-researched and -sourced, this is a valuable addition to the canon of artist biographies. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 42.4% of actual size.)
This life of an artist with a social conscience makes itself heard. (Yiddish glossary, author's note, illustrator's note, timeline, select bibliography, source notes) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4130-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal.
Before growing up to become a major figure in the civil rights movement, a boy finds a role model.
Buffing up a childhood tale told by her renowned father, Young Shelton describes how young Andrew saw scary men marching in his New Orleans neighborhood (“It sounded like they were yelling ‘Hi, Hitler!’ ”). In response to his questions, his father took him to see a newsreel of Jesse Owens (“a runner who looked like me”) triumphing in the 1936 Olympics. “Racism is a sickness,” his father tells him. “We’ve got to help folks like that.” How? “Well, you can start by just being the best person you can be,” his father replies. “It’s what you do that counts.” In James’ hazy chalk pastels, Andrew joins racially diverse playmates (including a White child with an Irish accent proudly displaying the nickel he got from his aunt as a bribe to stop playing with “those Colored boys”) in tag and other games, playing catch with his dad, sitting in the midst of a cheering crowd in the local theater’s segregated balcony, and finally visualizing himself pelting down a track alongside his new hero—“head up, back straight, eyes focused,” as a thematically repeated line has it, on the finish line. An afterword by Young Shelton explains that she retold this story, told to her many times growing up, drawing from conversations with Young and from her own research; family photos are also included. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal. (illustrator’s note) (Autobiographical picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-545-55465-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Quick and slick, but ably makes its case.
The distinguished jurist stands tall as a role model.
Not literally tall, of course—not only was she actually tiny but, as with all the other bobbleheaded caricatures in the “Ordinary People Change the World” series, Ginsburg, sporting huge eyeglasses on an outsize head over black judicial robes even in childhood, remains a doll-like figure in all of Eliopoulos’ cartoon scenes. It’s in the frank acknowledgment of the sexism and antisemitism she resolutely overcame as she went from reading about “real female heroes” to becoming one—and also the clear statement of how she so brilliantly applied the principle of “tikkun olam” (“repairing the world”) in her career to the notion that women and men should have the same legal rights—that her stature comes clear. For all the brevity of his profile, Meltzer spares some attention for her private life, too (“This is Marty. He loved me, and he loved my brains. So I married him!”). Other judicial activists of the past and present, all identified and including the current crop of female Supreme Court justices, line up with a diversely hued and abled group of younger followers to pay tribute in final scenes. “Fight for the things you care about,” as a typically savvy final quote has it, “but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
Quick and slick, but ably makes its case. (timeline, photos, source list, further reading) (Picture-book biography. 7-9)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780593533338
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
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