A radiant tribute to groundbreakers to inspire the next generation.
A celebration of the achievements of Asian Americans.
Succinct text and the combined talents of diverse artists bring vibrancy and color to the portrayal of Asian American pioneers. A cold, mountainous landscape greets readers as Chinese workers toil on the transcontinental railway. It is explained that many immigrated to America for opportunity, and a small caption reveals that 20,000 workers endured perilous working conditions. Though Asian American immigrants were told “to get out” and that “they couldn’t stay,” the trailblazers on a subsequent list have shown how they have broken barriers and thrived in rebuke. Every illustration is unique in scope and style to match the spotlighted individual. Dan Santat offers dynamic lighting and perspective as basketball player Jeremy Lin goes in for a slam-dunk. Sujean Rim renders abstract portraits with splashes of color for designer Vera Wang and ballet dancer Lia Cirio. Kitkat Pecson gives an eye-popping portrayal of author Jenny Han and activist Amanda Nguyen, while Julia Kuo evokes warmth in an intimate family dinner scene for author, activist, and chef Padma Lakshmi. The list includes individuals of East Asian, Southeast Asian, and South Asian backgrounds in the fields of STEM, art, politics, and advocacy. While brief captions give the name and a quick overview of each subject’s achievements, more detailed biographies are included in the author's note. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A radiant tribute to groundbreakers to inspire the next generation. (Collective biography. 5-8)Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-46305-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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