An engaging and enlightening travel account about a family’s global journey.
A travel book by a mother and her two daughters focuses on the family’s five-month trip around the world and the lessons learned along the way.
The McIntyres’ autobiographical work is written from the perspectives of teenagers Delaney and Riley. The girls recount that they weren’t sure how they felt about their parents’ plans to take them out of middle school and go “on a global family field trip.” The girls really weren’t surprised, as they knew how much their parents loved to travel, but they worried about what they would miss at home. The family had ventured to foreign countries before, and readers get a glimpse of a previous trip to Panama. After their parents included London on the itinerary, the girls acquiesced. The family traveled to a diverse array of countries and had some scary, thrilling, and eye-opening experiences. First, they went to Europe. In Iceland, they visited geothermal springs and a geyser; in England, they trekked to Stonehenge, the Tower of London, and the Harry Potter sets at the Warner Bros. Studio; in Italy, they explored the Colosseum and Vatican City. Then they moved on to Asia, where they immediately noticed a difference between their clothes and those of the locals. They were also surprised by the Christmas decorations in Malaysia and the traffic rules in Vietnam. In Australia and New Zealand, they got to hold a koala bear, bungee jump, and scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef before finishing their trip via Indonesia and China. In this engrossing book, the teens insightfully express key lessons, such as “every country gets to tell their version of history,” which they learned at a prisoner-of-war camp in Vietnam. The richly detailed, educational work is a wonderful resource for families considering a similar experience. The volume could be given to tweens or teens to help them ready themselves for the adventure and to build anticipation and commitment to the endeavor. Maps, family photographs, and a “report card” section listing the travelers’ most and least favorite experiences in each country are excellent inclusions.
An engaging and enlightening travel account about a family’s global journey.Pub Date: March 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73774-381-1
Page Count: 346
Publisher: Shamrock House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.
A carefully curated personal portrait.
First ladies’ roles have evolved significantly in recent decades. Their memoirs typically reflect a spectrum of ambition and interests, offering insights into their values and personal lives. Melania Trump, however, stands out as exceptionally private and elusive. Her ultra-lean account attempts to shed light on her public duties, initiatives, and causes as first lady, and it defends certain actions like her controversial “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” jacket. The statement was directed at the media, not the border situation, she claims. Yet the book provides scant detail about her personal orbit or day-to-day interactions. The memoir opens with her well-known Slovenian origin story, successful modeling career, and whirlwind romance with Donald Trump, culminating in their 2005 marriage, followed by a snapshot of Election Day 2016: “Each time we were together that day, I was impressed by his calm.…This man is remarkably confident under pressure.” Once in the White House, Melania Trump describes her functions and numerous public events at home and abroad, which she asserts were more accomplished than media representations suggested. However, she rarely shares any personal interactions beyond close family ties, notably her affection for her son, Barron, and her sister, Ines. And of course she lavishes praise on her husband. Minimal anecdotes about White House or cabinet staff are included, and she carefully defuses her rumored tensions with Trump’s adult children, blandly stating, “While we may share the same last name, each of us is distinct with our own aspirations and paths to follow.” Although Melania’s desire to support causes related to children’s and women’s welfare feels authentic, the overall tenor of her memoir seems aimed at painting a glimmering portrait of her husband and her role, likely with an eye toward the forthcoming election.
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781510782693
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
