A shoddily constructed, clumsily written biography that does a disservice to its audience.
Kicking off a new series about History’s Worst, a middle-grade survey of Adolf Hitler and World War II.
Buckley covers Hitler’s childhood, youth, service during World War I, takeover of the German Workers’ Party and subsequent transformation to the Nazi Party, seizure of power, World War II, and the Holocaust. Buckley’s overuse of adverbs and reliance on clichés results in such trite statements as “Measuring his failure against his friend’s success, Hitler basically fell off the map” and “World War I had begun and, believe it or not, Hitler was overjoyed.” Discussing the purge known as the “Night of the Long Knives,” Buckley writes, “If people had not been scared of Hitler before, these actions pushed their fear level off the charts.” His descriptions of historical, ideological, and political complexities are vague and frequently misleading. Readers may well end up believing the Freikorps was a single unit when, in fact, they were multiple, autonomous anti-communist paramilitary units organized during the Weimar Republic. Mein Kampf is characterized as “like a to-do list for taking and holding power but with an awful, racist twist.” The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact is described “as if dogs and cats had signed an agreement saying they would never fight again.” Compared to such exemplars as James Cross Giblin’s The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, this biography, even though for a younger audience, falls far short.
A shoddily constructed, clumsily written biography that does a disservice to its audience. (timeline, source notes) (Biography. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7941-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless.
Tales of a fourth grade ne’er-do-well.
It seems that young Jordan is stuck in a never-ending string of bad luck. Sure, no one’s perfect (except maybe goody-two-shoes William Feranek), but Jordan can’t seem to keep his attention focused on the task at hand. Try as he may, things always go a bit sideways, much to his educators’ chagrin. But Jordan promises himself that fourth grade will be different. As the year unfolds, it does prove to be different, but in a way Jordan couldn’t possibly have predicted. This humorous memoir perfectly captures the square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling many kids feel and effectively heightens that feeling with comic situations and a splendid villain. Jordan’s teacher, Mrs. Fisher, makes an excellent foil, and the book’s 1970s setting allows for her cruelty to go beyond anything most contemporary readers could expect. Unfortunately, the story begins to run out of steam once Mrs. Fisher exits. Recollections spiral, losing their focus and leading to a more “then this happened” and less cause-and-effect structure. The anecdotes are all amusing and Jordan is an endearing protagonist, but the book comes dangerously close to wearing out its welcome with sheer repetitiveness. Thankfully, it ends on a high note, one pleasant and hopeful enough that readers will overlook some of the shabbier qualities. Jordan is White and Jewish while there is some diversity among his classmates; Mrs. Fisher is White.
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64723-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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