An occasionally simplistic but rousing tale that shines a light on a story that should be more widely known.
The Van Buren sisters defy gender roles on a cross-country motorbike ride.
To prove that women are just as capable as men of serving as messengers during World War I, Addie and Gussie Van Buren set off on a journey from Brooklyn to San Francisco, armed with Addie’s mechanic tools and sporting goggles and leather jackets and pants, but not everyone supports them. Though their father raised them with a love of sports and a confident attitude, most people at this time believe that women should be prim, quiet, and domestic while wearing cumbersome dresses, and they make sure to tell Addie and Gussie that over and over again. But the indomitable sisters won’t be dissuaded from their adventure and complete their 5,000-mile trek despite threats of arrest for the crime of wearing men’s clothing. With only a pair of goggles to differentiate them when they’re in their biker gear, it’s difficult to tell the sisters apart throughout the story. Bland backgrounds and the largely interchangeable cast of mostly White-presenting characters flatten the reading experience. At times, the book seems to suggest that wearing dresses and frilly clothes is inherently incompatible with women achieving autonomy. Still, many will welcome this enthusiastic celebration of two relatively lesser known women sticking up for their passions and beliefs despite societal expectations. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An occasionally simplistic but rousing tale that shines a light on a story that should be more widely known. (more information on the Van Buren sisters, glossary, sources) (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781525302480
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A common topic ably presented—with a participatory element adding an unusual and brilliant angle.
To the tune of a familiar ditty, budding paleontologists can march, dig, and sift with a crew of dinosaur hunters.
Modeling her narrative after “Here We Go ’Round the Mulberry Bush,” Lendroth (Old Manhattan Has Some Farms, 2014, etc.) invites readers to add appropriate actions and gestures as they follow four scientists—modeled by Kolar as doll-like figures of varied gender and racial presentation, with oversized heads to show off their broad smiles—on a dig. “This is the way we clean the bones, clean the bones, clean the bones. / This is the way we clean the bones on a warm and sunny morning.” The smiling paleontologists find, then carefully excavate, transport, and reassemble the fossil bones of a T. rex into a museum display. A fleshed-out view of the toothy specimen on a wordless spread brings the enterprise to a suitably dramatic climax, and unobtrusive notes in the lower corners capped by a closing overview add digestible quantities of dino-detail and context. As in Jessie Hartland’s How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum (2011), the combination of patterned text and bright cartoon pictures of scientists at accurately portrayed work offers just the ticket to spark or feed an early interest in matters prehistoric.
A common topic ably presented—with a participatory element adding an unusual and brilliant angle. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62354-104-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
It’s a bit sketchy of historical detail, but it’s coherent, inspirational, and engaging without indulging in rapturous...
A first introduction to the iconic civil rights activist.
“She was very little and very brave, and she always tried to do what was right.” Without many names or any dates, Kaiser traces Parks’ life and career from childhood to later fights for “fair schools, jobs, and houses for black people” as well as “voting rights, women’s rights and the rights of people in prison.” Though her refusal to change seats and the ensuing bus boycott are misleadingly presented as spontaneous acts of protest, young readers will come away with a clear picture of her worth as a role model. Though recognizable thanks to the large wire-rimmed glasses Parks sports from the outset as she marches confidently through Antelo’s stylized illustrations, she looks childlike throughout (as characteristic of this series), and her skin is unrealistically darkened to match the most common shade visible on other African-American figures. In her co-published Emmeline Pankhurst (illustrated by Ana Sanfelippo), Kaiser likewise simplistically implies that Great Britain led the way in granting universal women’s suffrage but highlights her subject’s courageous quest for justice, and Isabel Sánchez Vegara caps her profile of Audrey Hepburn (illustrated by Amaia Arrazola) with the moot but laudable claim that “helping people across the globe” (all of whom in the pictures are dark-skinned children) made Hepburn “happier than acting or dancing ever had.” All three titles end with photographs and timelines over more-detailed recaps plus at least one lead to further information.
It’s a bit sketchy of historical detail, but it’s coherent, inspirational, and engaging without indulging in rapturous flights of hyperbole. (Picture book/biography. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-78603-018-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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