Beautifully rendered drawings are a feast for the eyes, but engaging historical context is lacking.
Part architectural tour, part intro to Chinese history and culture, this book showcases one of China’s most famous landmarks.
Beijing is one of the world’s oldest cities, and its architectural layout was begun during the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century. It was further developed during the Ming (14th to 17th centuries) and Qing dynasties (17th to 20th centuries). This book showcases Beijing as it was during the Qing period, China’s last royal dynasty. Like many traditional Chinese cities, Beijing was built symmetrically, with a central axis that forms its backbone. Major buildings were placed on either side of the axis, with the Imperial Palace, also known as the Forbidden City, at the center. Yu takes readers on a walking tour along the nearly 5-mile-long central axis, starting at the south end of the city and ending in the north. Stops include old Beijing’s business district, Tiananmen Square, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where business, official ceremonies, and banquets took (and still take) place. Colorful, finely detailed illustrations are placed, often symmetrically, over double-page spreads; one double gatefold depicts the Forbidden City’s grand architecture. The illustrations are breathtaking, but unfortunately, the text is not. Readers learn that on either side of the central axis, “buildings share the same color scheme and style but differ in size and height.” The author tries to liven up the somewhat dry descriptions and recitation of historical facts with sidebars of “Fun Facts” and “Knowledge Tips,” but the small, dense text, set in italicized, low-contrast, brown type, can be a chore to read.
Beautifully rendered drawings are a feast for the eyes, but engaging historical context is lacking. (timeline, glossary, afterword, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-949736-03-8
Page Count: 42
Publisher: 1 Plus Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality.
An examination of the history of Chinese American experiences.
Blackburn opens with a note to readers about growing up feeling invisible as a multicultural, biracial Chinese American. She notes the tremendous diversity of Chinese American history and writes that this book is a starting point for learning more. The evenly paced narrative starts with the earliest recorded arrival of the Chinese in America in 1834. A teenage girl, whose real name is unknown, arrived in New York Harbor with the Carnes brothers, merchants who imported Chinese goods and put her on display “like an animal in a circus.” The author then examines shifting laws, U.S. and global political and economic climates, and changing societal attitudes. The book introduces the highlighted people—including Yee Ah Tye, Wong Kim Ark, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Vincent Chen—in relation to lawsuits or other transformative events; they also stand as examples for explaining concepts such as racial hierarchy and the model minority myth. Maps, photos, and documents are interspersed throughout. Chapters close with questions that encourage readers to think critically about systems of oppression, actively engage with the material, and draw connections to their own lives. Although the book covers a wide span of history, from the Gold Rush to the rise in anti-Asian hate during the Covid-19 pandemic, it thoroughly explains the various events. Blackburn doesn’t shy away from describing terrible setbacks, but she balances them with examples of solidarity and progress.
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality. (resources, bibliography, image credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567630
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
An extraordinary tale of sisterhood and survival, told with simplicity.
A true story of two sisters—one Deaf and one hearing—and how they endured a perilous childhood in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.
Herta Myers, 8, and Renee, 10, are sisters living in Bratislava, the capital of what was then Czechoslovakia, during World War II. Renee is her family’s ears, as Herta and both of their parents are Deaf. They all communicate using sign language. Renee becomes so good at recognizing the sound of soldiers’ boots outside the window that she can warn her family of any danger. With narration traded between the girls, readers learn that the sisters are hidden on a farm with a couple who are also Deaf. Eventually, separated from their parents, the sisters’ journey leads them to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where their collective resolve is endlessly tested. This is a compelling story, exploring the role that senses play when one is in danger as well as presenting the candid recollections of everyday details of two children navigating appalling conditions during wartime. It is, however, a lot to process for kids who are as young as Herta and Renee were at the time of their most traumatic experiences. In the epilogue, co-author Greene reveals that this book is largely a compilation and interweaving of the transcripts of interviews that these two sisters gave to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University.
An extraordinary tale of sisterhood and survival, told with simplicity. (poem, photographs) (Memoir. 10-14)Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-75335-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
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