An excellent, eye-opening exploration perfectly pitched to its audience.
An introduction to the work of artist Cindy Sherman, illustrated with dozens of her photographs.
Sherman has been photographing herself in makeup and costumes since the 1960s, often reflecting on the societal roles of women. This beautifully designed account moves from her childhood through art school to her career as an artist, with sections on her various series, titled by year, such as Fairy Tales 1985 and Clowns 2003-2004. The final chapter, which discusses her 2012 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, highlights her success and influence in the art world. Greenberg and Jordan, who have honed their skills in many previous art books for young people, engage their audience from beginning to end. Their conversational text prompts readers to think, using questions (“Can we find beauty in ugliness?”) and friendly commands (“Imagine Cindy alone in her studio”). Well-chosen quotes from Sherman help explain her art and process, while colored boxes set off quotes from children and teens in which they respond to specific photographs. These quotes and the authors’ own interpretations offer ways to understand Sherman’s sometimes-controversial art. An introductory note invites readers to enter Sherman’s world and “discover your own stories”; the book brilliantly gives them the tools to do so.
An excellent, eye-opening exploration perfectly pitched to its audience. (bibliography, notes, list of artworks) (Biography. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-520-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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