Thought-provoking and uplifting.
Ryan White fights for equality.
1n 1984, when Ryan is diagnosed with AIDS caused by hemophilia treatments, misconceptions abound. Even though doctors say AIDS can’t be transmitted by playing or sitting with someone, many in his hometown of Kokomo, Indiana, are afraid, and Ryan is barred from attending school. As Ryan educates the public about AIDS via TV interviews, some people change their opinions. But some spread rumors that Ryan is gay and trying to infect others. “The more the lies were repeated,” the author observes, “the more they seemed true.” After a yearlong court battle, Ryan is permitted to attend school. But though he receives supportive letters from around the world, his classmates still don’t accept him…until, in 1987, he moves to Cicero, Indiana, and meets Jill, who brainstorms a plan with school officials to educate students about AIDS. Students, in turn, educate parents, sparking a chain reaction: “The more people knew, the less they feared.” In addition to honoring White, the straightforward text effectively demonstrates both the dangers of misinformation and the power of empathy and education. Simple cartoon illustrations convey Ryan’s loneliness and joy as well as the public’s angry scowls, uneasy glances, and welcoming smiles. Backmatter details Ryan’s influence on AIDS legislation and answers frequently asked questions about HIV and AIDS. Ryan, his family, and Jill present White; background characters are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Thought-provoking and uplifting. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 27, 2023
ISBN: 9780807533543
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist.
Frida Kahlo’s strong affection for and identification with animals form the lens through which readers view her life and work in this picture-book biography.
Each two-page spread introduces one or more of her pets, comparing her characteristics to theirs and adding biographical details. Confusingly for young readers, the beginning pages reference pets she owned as an adult, yet the illustrations and events referred to come from earlier in her life. Bonito the parrot perches in a tree overlooking young Frida and her family in her childhood home and pops up again later, just before the first mention of Diego Rivera. Granizo, the fawn, another pet from her adult years, is pictured beside a young Frida and her father along with a description of “her life as a little girl.” The author’s note adds important details about Kahlo’s life and her significance as an artist, as well as recommending specific paintings that feature her beloved animals. Expressive acrylic paintings expertly evoke Kahlo’s style and color palette. While young animal lovers will identify with her attachment to her pets and may enjoy learning about the Aztec origins of her Xolo dogs and the meaning of turkeys in ancient Mexico, the book may be of most interest to those who already have an interest in Kahlo’s life.
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4269-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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