Engagingly informal, more cogent than ever, and rich in rare facts and insights.
A graphic-novel history of the democratic ideal and its slow, difficult progress toward realization in the United States.
Following the practice of the three previous Big Ideas titles, Brown chooses a historical figure to conduct his tour, and he outdoes himself here by picking Abigail Adams—a brilliant, self-educated woman whose famous dictum to her husband, John, to “Remember the Ladies” positions her well to remember Native Americans, immigrants, and people of African descent as she chronicles the long struggle to build a “more Perfect Union,” from the principles of equal rights for all and government through “consent of the governed.” If her opening review of prehistoric linkages between the inventions of agriculture, cities, and governmental systems has been challenged recently, it holds in broad outline and sets up subsequent surveys of empires worldwide, of Athenian democracy, of republics from Rome to the Iroquois Confederacy, and of significant documents about rights such as the 13th-century Manden Charter in West Africa. She addresses the outrageous racist compromises built into our Constitution (“No, I’m not making it up”) and subsequent watermarks both low, like the Dred Scott Decision, and high, up to Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of an equitable future. In the loosely drawn panels, dark- and olive-complexioned men and women are steadily present to reinforce the message that, yes, they, too, belong in this aspirational, still unfinished story.
Engagingly informal, more cogent than ever, and rich in rare facts and insights. (timeline, information on Abigail Adams, endnotes, bibliography, author’s note, index) (Graphic nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4197-5738-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A change of pace from the typical blood-and-guts approach to the topic, populous enough to sate even the most rabid...
A quick trip through the Mesozoic Era with a paleontologist is all young Ronnie needs to become a dino-maniac.
So desperate is Ronnie to better a dinosaur exam’s failing grade that she’s willing to follow her odd but scholarly neighbor Miss Lernin into a curbside recycling bin—which, thanks to “Science Magic,” leaves the two in the late Triassic. Between meeting plateosaurs on that stop and a cozy nuzzle with a T. rex in the late Cretaceous, Ronnie gets an earful about dinosaur anatomy, convergent evolution, types of prehistoric life, protofeathers and other recent discoveries, and (as Miss Lernin puts it) “the exciting world of…phylogenetic trees!!” But mostly what she gets are dinosaurs. The graphic panels teem with (labeled) prehistoric life including, along with dozens of dinos, many early mammals and other contemporaries. Howard depicts nearly all of this fauna with snub noses and such friendly expressions that in no time (so to speak) Ronnie is exclaiming “Oh my gosh…Jurassic crocodylomorphs were so cute!” Indeed, her white tutor agrees, but also cool, dangerous, and majestic. Ronnie, who is depicted as a black girl, returns to the present to earn a perfect score on a retaken test and go on to spread the dino-word to her diverse classmates. Though the lack of source or resource lists is disappointing, closing graphic recaps of major prehistoric creatures and, yes, a phylogenetic tree provide some review.
A change of pace from the typical blood-and-guts approach to the topic, populous enough to sate even the most rabid dinophiles. (glossary) (Graphic informational fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2306-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pulse-pounding, both as a sports highlight and a tribute to the character and determination of one of the game’s unexcelled...
A dramatic visual account of the pivotal game of the 1997 NBA Finals.
It’s suspenseful from the get-go: With the seven-game series between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz tied at two wins apiece, Bulls shooting guard Michael Jordan wakes up in the middle of the night before Game 5 feeling sick as a dog. Six foot eight small forward Scottie Pippen reassures his worried teammates: “He’ll be here. And if he’s sick, he’ll still play, ’cause you know how he is.” And (spoiler alert) show up he does—looking shivery and miserable in Williams’ chiseled action scenes, but through an exciting, seesaw contest, he racks up 38 points on the way to a close-fought win. Switching back and forth between the game and an argumentative trio of young fans pinned to their TV, Soria alternates punchy dialogue and announcers’ commentary with prose interludes setting up the episode, the game’s stars and rules, and the aftermath (along with a paean to Jordan’s signature shoes). Dramatic angles and flashes of dazzle crank up the pace, and figures in the panels, nearly all people of color, have individualized features and a range of skin tones. New and confirmed fans will appreciate the MJ timeline (up to his third and final retirement in 2003) and multiage reading list at the end.
Pulse-pounding, both as a sports highlight and a tribute to the character and determination of one of the game’s unexcelled greats. (Graphic nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-38592-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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