Engaging but marginalizing.
An introduction to the White House, the residence of every American president except Washington and for many years, the largest home in the country.
It’s currently staffed by 100 nonpartisan employees, including five full-time florists and the head of the storeroom, who shops incognito for the first family’s groceries in an unmarked Secret Service vehicle. From the building’s construction to its more whimsical occupants, including children and pets, Brower provides a fine overview of what it’s like to live there, but she repeats some anecdotes (such as Dolley Madison’s saving the portrait of George Washington). By relegating all mention of race and prejudice, including that the house was built by enslaved construction workers, to a separate chapter titled “Understanding the Past: Race and the White House,” there is an implication that racism is over and dealt with as well as separate from, rather than an integral part of, U.S. history. Additionally, the only first lady Brower describes as having to get used to the size and grandeur of the White House is Michelle Obama. (And the only baby born in the White House wasn’t little Esther Cleveland in 1893—it was a child of Ursula Granger Hughes, one of Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved cooks, 91 years earlier.) This entertaining treatment conveys genuine respect for White House employees but contains serious missteps when it comes to inclusivity.
Engaging but marginalizing. (maps, timeline, discussion questions, presidents and first ladies, selected bibliography, further reading, endnotes) (Nonfiction. 8-14)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-290641-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy.
Through the author’s own childhood diary entries, a seventh grader details her inner life before and after 9/11.
Alyssa’s diary entries start in September 2000, in the first week of her seventh grade year. She’s 11 and dealing with typical preteen concerns—popularity and anxiety about grades—along with other things more particular to her own life. She’s shuffling between Queens and Manhattan to share time between her divorced parents and struggling with thick facial hair and classmates who make her feel like she’s “not a whole person” due to her mixed White and Puerto Rican heritage. Alyssa is endlessly earnest and awkward as she works up the courage to talk to her crush, Alejandro; gushes about her dreams of becoming a shoe designer; and tries to solve her burgeoning unibrow problem. The diaries also have a darker side, as a sense of impending doom builds as the entries approach 9/11, especially because Alyssa’s father works in finance in the World Trade Center. As a number of the diary entries are taken directly from the author’s originals, they effortlessly capture the loud, confusing feelings middle school brings out. The artwork, in its muted but effective periwinkle tones, lends a satisfying layer to the diary’s accessible and delightful format.
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy. (author's note) (Graphic memoir. 8-13)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-77427-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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