Meticulous illustrations accompany brief descriptions and histories of the buildings and monuments that form the heart of the nation’s capital. After discussing the founding, initial design, and 1814 burning of Washington, D.C., Curlee delivers thumbnail sketches of the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Moving chronologically in order of the beginning of building and geographically around the Mall, he deliberately situates each subject; maps of L’Enfant’s original plan and the Mall as it is now flank these presentations. Tidbits of history (e.g., that the Capitol served as a hospital during the Civil War and that Thomas Jefferson anonymously entered the contest to design the White House) join the occasional architectural cross-section to give a sense of both form and function of these buildings. In their clarity and simplicity, and with their deep-blue backgrounds, the illustrations clearly hearken back to Curlee’s earlier work, but this offering’s necessarily inclusive nature means that the work as a whole lacks the glorious specificity and unity of narrative of efforts such as Brooklyn Bridge (2001). Although this volume nominally covers five buildings, the Capitol receives the lengthiest and most enthusiastic treatment; one might wish that it had been the sole focus. In tone, the text takes on a reverence that never lets its reader forget that these buildings are monuments: “Painted a dazzling white, and with its noble profile, large windows, and lofty height . . . the Capitol dome is instantly recognizable. Triumphantly completed during the nation’s most terrible crisis, the great dome came to symbolize the Union itself.” Quotations from primary sources, some regrettably unidentified, embellish the text. In all, a worthy effort that cannot escape a certain hodgepodge effect. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-84947-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2002
A pleasing new picture book looks at George Washington’s career through an agricultural lens. Sprinkling excerpts from his letters and diaries throughout to allow its subject to speak in his own voice, the narrative makes a convincing case for Washington’s place as the nation’s First Farmer. His innovations, in addition to applying the scientific method to compost, include a combination plow-tiller-harrow, the popularization of the mule and a two-level barn that put horses to work at threshing grain in any weather. Thomas integrates Washington’s military and political adventures into her account, making clear that it was his frustration as a farmer that caused him to join the revolutionary cause. Lane’s oil illustrations, while sometimes stiff, appropriately portray a man who was happiest when working the land. Backmatter includes a timeline, author’s notes on both Mount Vernon and Washington the slaveholder, resources for further exploration and a bibliography. (Picture book/biography. 8-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59078-460-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The author of Cod’s Tale (2001) again demonstrates a dab hand at recasting his adult work for a younger audience. Here the topic is salt, “the only rock eaten by human beings,” and, as he engrossingly demonstrates, “the object of wars and revolutions” throughout recorded history and before. Between his opening disquisition on its chemical composition and a closing timeline, he explores salt’s sources and methods of extraction, its worldwide economic influences from prehistoric domestication of animals to Gandhi’s Salt March, its many uses as a preservative and industrial product, its culinary and even, as the source for words like “salary” and “salad,” its linguistic history. Along with lucid maps and diagrams, Schindler supplies detailed, sometimes fanciful scenes to go along, finishing with a view of young folk chowing down on orders of French fries as ghostly figures from history look on. Some of Kurlansky’s claims are exaggerated (the Erie and other canals were built to transport more than just salt, for instance), and there are no leads to further resources, but this salutary (in more ways than one) micro-history will have young readers lifting their shakers in tribute. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-399-23998-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
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