This marvelous addition to the series celebrates the highlights of Boston landmarks and art, all with the irrepressible humor of this sister team. Our young adventurer has visited the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Now, she and her brother are exploring a new museum, just as unwelcome to balloon visitors as the others. Leaving her balloon with her grandmother, the girl and her brother explore the museum’s works with their grandfather, while outside, chaos ensues as the balloon gets loose and floats about the city, passing Boston’s most famous landmarks along the way. Life parallels art through Glasser’s clever drawings. As the children view Rembrandt’s Artist in His Studio, Grandma passes by a painter in the Public Gardens. And Dubuffet’s modernist sculpture L’Enqueteur bears a remarkable resemblance to the baseball catcher at the ballpark. The chase culminates in an uproarious scene at Fenway Park involving the entire cast of characters Grandma has met—and all in the middle of a Red Sox vs. Yankees game, of course. The beauty of this wordless escapade is that the story will be new with each person’s reading. Added to that are wonderful details, like the hidden drawings of 33 famous men and women who played a part in Boston’s history and development. The faithful reproductions found in the text introduce young readers to some of the works of art that can be found at the MFA, while the lively illustrations give an impromptu tour of Boston’s sites. Glasser’s mixture of color, and pen-and-ink drawings make details pop off the pages and the characters come alive. The text includes a list of the reproduced artwork, a map of Boston tracing the journey of the balloon, and brief biographical sketches of the famous people hidden in its pages. Great fun. (Picture book. 5-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8037-2570-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A powerful retrospective glimpse at a key event.
A vibrantly illustrated account of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade through the eyes of a young girl who volunteers to participate.
Morrison’s signature style depicts each black child throughout the book as a distinct individual; on the endpapers, children hold signs that collectively create a “Civil Rights and the Children’s Crusade” timeline, placing the events of the book in the context of the greater movement. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. comes to speak at her church, a girl and her brother volunteer to march in their parents’ stead. The narrative succinctly explains why the Children’s Crusade was a necessary logistical move, one that children and parents made with careful consideration and despite fear. Lines of text (“Let the children march. / They will lead the way // The path may be long and / troubled, but I’m gonna walk on!”) are placed within the illustrations in bold swoops for emphasis. Morrison’s powerful use of perspective makes his beautiful oil paintings even more dynamic and conveys the intensity of the situations depicted, including the children’s being arrested, hosed, and jailed. The child crusaders, regardless of how badly they’re treated, never lose their dignity, which the art conveys flawlessly. While the children win the day, such details as the Confederate flag subtly connect the struggle to the current day.
A powerful retrospective glimpse at a key event. (timeline, afterword, artist’s statement, quote sources, bibliography) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-70452-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
An inspiring story of young boy's compelling desire to read. As a boy of nine, Booker works in a salt mine from the dark of early morning to the gloom of night, hungry for a meal, but even hungrier to learn to read. Readers follow him on his quest in Malden, Virginia, where he finds inspiration in a man ``brown as me'' reading a newspaper on a street corner. An alphabet book helps, but Booker can't make the connection to words. Seeking out ``that brown face of hope'' once again, Booker gains a sense of the sounds represented by letters, and these become his deliverance. Bradby's fine first book is tautly written, with a poetic, spiritual quality in every line. The beautifully executed, luminous illustrations capture the atmosphere of an African-American community post-slavery: the drudgery of days consumed by back- breaking labor, the texture of private lives conducted by lantern- light. There is no other context or historical note about Booker T. Washington's life, leaving readers to piece together his identity. Regardless, this is an immensely satisfying, accomplished work, resonating first with longing and then with joy. (Picture book. 5- 8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-531-09464-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995
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