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YOU CAN’T DO THAT, AMELIA!

Name: YOU CAN’T DO THAT, AMELIA!
Author: Kimberly Wagner Klier
ISBN: 978-1-59078-467-9

by Kimberly Wagner Klier & illustrated by Kathleen Kemly ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2008

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As a girl, despite her cousins’ claims she couldn’t, Amelia Earhart built a roller coaster using wood and roller-skate wheels so that she could feel like she was flying. When she was older, she ignored her dubious family, took flying lessons and eventually bought her own plane. She began to enter races and set her own goals, and then it was the press and other aviators who said, “You can’t do that, Amelia!” Not without trial and error, Amelia proved herself time and time again. In keeping with the title, the story ends in 1932 with an emergency landing in Ireland after a transatlantic flight (and the dubious textual claim that this was “the grandest of her dreams”), rather than in 1937 with Earhart’s famous disappearance into the annals of history. Kemly’s soft illustrations suit this heavily fictionalized portrait of a stalwart heroine, which, despite its flaws, will likely inspire young readers and lead to further investigation. (biographical information, timeline, bibliography, resources, author’s note) (Picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-1-59078-467-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

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LET THE CHILDREN MARCH

by Monica Clark-Robinson ; illustrated by Frank Morrison ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018

A powerful retrospective glimpse at a key event.

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A vibrantly illustrated account of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade through the eyes of a young girl who volunteers to participate.

Morrison’s signature style depicts each black child throughout the book as a distinct individual; on the endpapers, children hold signs that collectively create a “Civil Rights and the Children’s Crusade” timeline, placing the events of the book in the context of the greater movement. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. comes to speak at her church, a girl and her brother volunteer to march in their parents’ stead. The narrative succinctly explains why the Children’s Crusade was a necessary logistical move, one that children and parents made with careful consideration and despite fear. Lines of text (“Let the children march. / They will lead the way // The path may be long and / troubled, but I’m gonna walk on!”) are placed within the illustrations in bold swoops for emphasis. Morrison’s powerful use of perspective makes his beautiful oil paintings even more dynamic and conveys the intensity of the situations depicted, including the children’s being arrested, hosed, and jailed. The child crusaders, regardless of how badly they’re treated, never lose their dignity, which the art conveys flawlessly. While the children win the day, such details as the Confederate flag subtly connect the struggle to the current day.

A powerful retrospective glimpse at a key event. (timeline, afterword, artist’s statement, quote sources, bibliography) (Picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-544-70452-7

Page Count: 40

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
STANDING ON HER SHOULDERS
by Monica Clark-Robinson ; illustrated by Laura Freeman

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MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE

by Marie Bradby & illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1995

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An inspiring story of young boy's compelling desire to read. As a boy of nine, Booker works in a salt mine from the dark of early morning to the gloom of night, hungry for a meal, but even hungrier to learn to read. Readers follow him on his quest in Malden, Virginia, where he finds inspiration in a man ``brown as me'' reading a newspaper on a street corner. An alphabet book helps, but Booker can't make the connection to words. Seeking out ``that brown face of hope'' once again, Booker gains a sense of the sounds represented by letters, and these become his deliverance. Bradby's fine first book is tautly written, with a poetic, spiritual quality in every line. The beautifully executed, luminous illustrations capture the atmosphere of an African-American community post-slavery: the drudgery of days consumed by back- breaking labor, the texture of private lives conducted by lantern- light. There is no other context or historical note about Booker T. Washington's life, leaving readers to piece together his identity. Regardless, this is an immensely satisfying, accomplished work, resonating first with longing and then with joy. (Picture book. 5- 8)