Rich illustrations buoy a lackluster narrative.
José Andrés Puerta, an award-winning Spanish American chef, uses his gift to help people in need.
Ever since José was a boy, he enjoyed cooking. Inspired by his parents, who showed him that he could help improve people’s lives in different ways, he went away to cooking school in Barcelona at 15 and became a chef’s assistant at the world-famous El Bulli. His professional journey eventually took him to Washington, D.C., where he opened his own restaurant. In 2010, an earthquake devastated much of Haiti. José, by then an award-winning chef, gathered a group of friends and went there to cook for the survivors. When he returned to D.C., he founded a nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, dedicated to providing free meals to survivors of natural and human-made disasters, work that’s enabled him to help affected communities all over the world. Vivid illustrations that depict compelling scenes rendered in rich color add tone and nuance to a flat, dry narrative that sticks to the facts at the expense of emotional depth. Condensing an entire professional life into a picture book means that the text eschews details, although some added information would have made for a more compelling story. Parts of the chef’s life—such as when he asks the Ukrainian people to become “Food Fighters”—are dropped into the story without explanation, leaving readers with questions the text does not answer.
Rich illustrations buoy a lackluster narrative. (list of some of José Andrés Puerta’s awards, glossary) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781728279527
Page Count: 40
Publisher: duopress/Sourcebooks
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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