A straightforward biography that may inspire an interest in history and aviation.
Female pilot Nancy Harkness Love broke barriers.
Nancy developed a passion for aviation at age 16 when she took a ride with a barnstormer pilot. While attending college, she earned her pilot’s license, but due to the Great Depression, her family couldn’t afford her tuition, and she ended up moving to Boston. There, a man named Bob Love hired her to demonstrate to customers how airplanes flew. She later married Bob and continued to work as a pilot. When World War II broke out, Love advocated for women to ferry planes for the military and then went on to lead the Women’s Auxiliary Flying Squadron, which merged with another program, becoming the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Though slightly prolonged, the focus on Love’s early life fleshes out both her daring personality and the fascinating path that led her to leading the women’s ferrying division of WASP. The downplaying of the sexism Love faced, both when becoming a professional pilot and in military service, combines with bland character designs to belie the unique role in history Love and the other WASP pilots played, but an author’s note gives greater detail regarding who the other original WASPs were and what they accomplished. Love and most other characters present white. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A straightforward biography that may inspire an interest in history and aviation. (photographs, sources) (Picture-book biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781534484191
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
An inspiring introduction to the young Nobel Peace Prize winner and a useful conversation starter.
The latest of many picture books about the young heroine from Pakistan, this one is narrated by Malala herself, with a frame that is accessible to young readers.
Malala introduces her story using a television show she used to watch about a boy with a magic pencil that he used to get himself and his friends out of trouble. Readers can easily follow Malala through her own discovery of troubles in her beloved home village, such as other children not attending school and soldiers taking over the village. Watercolor-and-ink illustrations give a strong sense of setting, while gold ink designs overlay Malala’s hopes onto her often dreary reality. The story makes clear Malala’s motivations for taking up the pen to tell the world about the hardships in her village and only alludes to the attempt on her life, with a black page (“the dangerous men tried to silence me. / But they failed”) and a hospital bracelet on her wrist the only hints of the harm that came to her. Crowds with signs join her call before she is shown giving her famous speech before the United Nations. Toward the end of the book, adult readers may need to help children understand Malala’s “work,” but the message of holding fast to courage and working together is powerful and clear.
An inspiring introduction to the young Nobel Peace Prize winner and a useful conversation starter. (Picture book/memoir. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-31957-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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