Through Chanel’s incomplete story, Byrne encourages readers to explore their creativity and remain steadfast in following...
More a celebration of Coco Chanel’s creative spirit than a straightforward biography, this book portrays the petite French waif as a smiling, self-confident rule breaker with an innate flair for fashion and a big imagination.
Chanel found it difficult to follow the rigid discipline of the strict nuns who ran the orphanage where she grew up. She was, however, inspired by the “dramatic and mysterious” black-and-white habits they wore. With an eye for style and a talent for sewing, Chanel was determined to follow her own unique vision of fashion as soon as she was old enough to leave the orphanage. Chanel’s practical yet fashionable designs did not impress everyone, but her emphasis on comfort, simplicity, and breaking long-standing rules of fashion caught on and changed forever how women dressed. Byrne’s illustrations in pen and ink and watercolor are appropriately stylish and energetic. The endpapers feature women wearing Chanel’s many creations. In an afterword, Byrne notes the difficulty of distinguishing fact from fiction due to Chanel’s penchant for embellishing stories throughout her life. Byrne does not acknowledge established controversies about Chanel: her anti-Semitism, homophobia, and collaboration with the Nazi occupation. Omitted from the bibliography is Hal Vaughan’s adult biography Sleeping with the Enemy (2001), which discusses them.
Through Chanel’s incomplete story, Byrne encourages readers to explore their creativity and remain steadfast in following their dreams—but aren’t there other, better subjects that could serve the same purpose? (selected bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-9)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3425-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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