An inspiring true story of female empowerment.
In author/illustrator Hechter’s educational nonfiction children’s book, kids learn a valuable lesson about how to use activism and perseverance.
In 2016, a troop of New York City Girl Scouts on a museum visit were shocked to learn that no real-life women were commemorated by any of the many statues in Central Park. They immediately took action, joining with an organization called Monumental Women to picket, fundraise, and challenge elected officials about this omission. They spoke to passersby, the media, the parks department, and, eventually, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio. This is an illustrated book aimed at middle-grade readers; the writing is straightforward, describing the determined Girl Scouts’ fight via a handful of short episodes. Although it’s light on text, it contains complex ideas and language suitable to its intended age group. Most illustrations depict the Girl Scouts, showing them to be a diverse group. The specificity of each girl is eye-catching and compelling, and it’s effectively amplified by the attribution of all dialogue to real-life girls, identified by their full names. Images of settings and supporting characters are often rough sketches, creating a sense of depth while highlighting the girls. In a striking illustration of the completed monument, three bronze figures of women’s rights pioneers are set against a greenish-gold background that effectively evokes Central Park as well as a feeling of celebration. Only the presentation of the text falls short; the typeface choice is uninspired, the letters are small and close together, and the placement of text blocks is awkward at times.
An inspiring true story of female empowerment.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781643713809
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Red Chair Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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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BOOK REVIEW
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