Exhilarating.
The first African American Rockette tells her story.
Jennifer Jones fell in love with dance in her first class at age 9. Using her body to express herself as she danced ballet, jazz, and tap, she felt free and bold. Outside of class, though, she was painfully shy—her mother was white and her father was Black, and their family stood out in their New Jersey town. After an ignorant clerk yelled at her for dancing in a store (“Girls like you don’t become dancers”), Jennifer’s joy was nearly diminished, but her father brought home a piece of linoleum for Jennifer to practice dancing on. From then on, she danced every day and felt free from the ignorance of others. Her first stage performance, in fourth grade, “felt like home,” but that clerk’s mean comment still lingered. When her parents took her to see The Wiz on Broadway, the sight of the all-Black cast gave her the confidence she needed to eventually audition for the Radio City Rockettes, where she danced for 15 years. Though this tale explores painful emotions, its focus on Jennifer’s personal experience and the pleasure she found in dance make it an absolute delight. In relatable first-person narration, Jones ends the narrative by addressing children: “What will your story be?” Paul deftly uses gestures and facial expressions in the line-and-color illustrations to lead readers through Jones’ emotional journey. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Exhilarating. (about Jennifer Jones and the Rockettes) (Picture-book autobiography. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063087064
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist.
Frida Kahlo’s strong affection for and identification with animals form the lens through which readers view her life and work in this picture-book biography.
Each two-page spread introduces one or more of her pets, comparing her characteristics to theirs and adding biographical details. Confusingly for young readers, the beginning pages reference pets she owned as an adult, yet the illustrations and events referred to come from earlier in her life. Bonito the parrot perches in a tree overlooking young Frida and her family in her childhood home and pops up again later, just before the first mention of Diego Rivera. Granizo, the fawn, another pet from her adult years, is pictured beside a young Frida and her father along with a description of “her life as a little girl.” The author’s note adds important details about Kahlo’s life and her significance as an artist, as well as recommending specific paintings that feature her beloved animals. Expressive acrylic paintings expertly evoke Kahlo’s style and color palette. While young animal lovers will identify with her attachment to her pets and may enjoy learning about the Aztec origins of her Xolo dogs and the meaning of turkeys in ancient Mexico, the book may be of most interest to those who already have an interest in Kahlo’s life.
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4269-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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