A populous gallery, broadly diverse and brimming with talent.
Profiles of over 50 performers, artists, and innovators who broke barriers or beat the odds to succeed.
Showing a canny sense of what young readers might really be looking for in role model material, the authors salute Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift, for instance, as much for the eye-watering amounts of money they make as for their spectacular onstage and on-camera brilliance. Readers may not recognize all the selected subjects, but Buckley and Labrecque offer a laudably inclusive view. They spotlight artists who have shifted the entertainment landscape, among them the first Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award winners or nominees identified as Muslim, Black, transgender, Asian, Asian American, Latino, deaf, gay, or Native American, as well as other performers living with disabilities such as cerebral palsy or Down syndrome. The range of endeavors is also very broad, going beyond acting and singing to encompass fields from cinematography to writing and video game design, as well as sculpture (Edmonia Lewis) and illustration (Jerry Pinkney). “The future of entertainment is bright,” the authors write. “It will only get brighter if more diverse performers are given the opportunity to shine their light.” Specific biographical information in the alphabetically arranged entries tends to be thin, but both the entries and Walthall’s portraits of sturdy, smiling figures exuding confidence offer inspiration galore.
A populous gallery, broadly diverse and brimming with talent. (timelines, index by field, further reading) (Collective biography. 9-12)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781728275093
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
A stereotype about people with disabilities is shattered by this introduction to a dance company known as Dancing Wheels, a group composed of “sit down” and “stand-up” dancers. The story begins with Mary Fletcher-Verdi, born with spina bifida, a condition that causes weakness in the legs and spine. Mary always wanted to dance, and, encouraged by a family who focused on what she could do rather than what she couldn’t, she studied the art and eventually formed a mixed company, some who dance on their legs, and some who dance in wheelchairs. What she accomplished can be seen in this photo journal of the group’s dance workshop in which beginners and experienced dancers study and rehearse. Along the way, McMahon (One Belfast Boy, 1999, etc.) intersperses the history of the group, some details about the dancers, their families, and the rehearsal process that leads up to the final performance. Three children are featured, Jenny a wheelchair dancer, Devin, her stand-up partner, and Sabatino, the young son of Mary’s partner. The focus on these youngsters gives the reader a sense of their personalities and their lives with their families. Godt’s (Listen for the Bus, not reviewed, etc.) color photographs detail every aspect of the story and show the dancers at home and in rehearsal, interacting with each other, having fun, and finally performaning. They convey the dancer’s sense of joy as well as the commitment to the dance as an art form felt by the adult directors and teachers. An excellent book for helping children and adults expand their understanding about the abilities of the “disabled.” (Nonfiction. 7-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-395-88889-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In no particular order and using no set criteria for his selections, veteran sportscaster Berman pays tribute to an arbitrary gallery of baseball stars—all familiar names and, except for the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, retired from play for decades. Repeatedly taking the stance that statistics are just numbers but then reeling off batting averages, home-run totals, wins (for pitchers) and other data as evidence of greatness, he offers career highlights in a folksy narrative surrounded by photos, side comments and baseball-card–style notes in side boxes. Readers had best come to this with some prior knowledge, since he casually drops terms like “slugging percentage,” “dead ball era” and “barnstorming” without explanation and also presents a notably superficial picture of baseball’s history—placing the sport’s “first half-century” almost entirely in the 1900s, for instance, and condescendingly noting that Jackie Robinson’s skill led Branch Rickey to decide that he “was worthy of becoming the first black player to play in the majors.” The awesome feats of Ruth, Mantle, the Gibsons Bob and Josh, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb and the rest are always worth a recap—but this one’s strictly minor league. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3886-4
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
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