When Lewis and Clark were about to undertake their famous journey in 1803, North America was divided into five sections: the US, the British-controlled northern and western areas to the Rocky Mountains, the Louisiana Territory, the southwest, controlled by the Spanish, and the unclaimed Oregon country. Lewis and Clark’s mission was to find a water route across the continent, map the west, and collect specimens of plants and animals; Patent’s mission is to “compare the wilderness they explored with the America of today.” Lewis and Clark’s mission got mixed results. The Rocky Mountains dashed their hopes of a water route across the continent, but they did return with natural riches and tales of adventure. Their tales inspired a new generation of exploration and settlement, ultimately a disaster for the Indians, who suffered diseases and the takeover of their lands. Patent’s mission, too, gets mixed results. It’s a fascinating premise to retrace the trail and see what has changed. Farms, towns, cities, and dams have changed much of the landscape, but the wilder parts of the Rocky Mountains are much the same, and monuments along the way preserve memories of the grand adventure. But the work reads more like a scrapbook—brief chapters on various facets of the trek, accompanied by photographs, maps, and excerpts from journals. Readers who want the drama of the journey would do better to read a novel such as Bruchac’s Sacajawea (2000) and use this volume for background information. This will be a useful research tool, though the bibliography is skimpy, suggesting only a small number of books and Web sites, including the author’s own. Still, this is a must for library collections on the subject. (author’s note, resources) (Nonfiction. 9+)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-525-46912-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2002
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
A sincere, genuine, and uplifting book that affirms the importance of being true to yourself.
Middle school drama hits hard in this coming-of-age graphic memoir.
Natural competitor Misty has faced off against the boys for years, always coming out on top, but now they’re moving on without her into the land of full-contact football. Never one to back away from a challenge, Misty resolves to join the team and convinces her best friend, Bree, to join her. While Misty pours herself into practicing, obviously uninterested Bree—who was motivated more by getting to be around boys than doing sports—drifts toward popular queen bee Ava, creating an uneasy dynamic. Feeling estranged from Bree, Misty, who typically doesn’t think much about her appearance, tries to navigate seventh grade—even experimenting with a more traditionally feminine gender expression—while also mastering her newfound talent for tackling and facing hostility from some boys on the team. Readers with uncommon interests will relate to the theme of being the odd one out. Social exclusion and cutting remarks can be traumatic, so it’s therapeutic to see Misty begin to embrace her differences instead of trying to fit in with frenemies who don’t value her. The illustrations are alive with color and rich emotional details, pairing perfectly with the heartfelt storytelling. The husband-and-wife duo’s combined efforts will appeal to fans of Raina Telgemeier and Shannon Hale. Main characters present as White; some background characters read as Black.
A sincere, genuine, and uplifting book that affirms the importance of being true to yourself. (Graphic memoir. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-306469-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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