A well-made story and a welcome, timely reminder of what true courage is.
The story of an Italian cyclist whose work with the Resistance in World War II earned him the designation of “Righteous Among Nations” from Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Center.
Gino Bartali was a professional cyclist and had already won the prestigious Tour de France when World War II broke out. Dismayed by the rhetoric and aggression against Jews (and he counted many Jews as his close friends), Bartali made the decision to work for the Resistance, hiding fake identity papers in the hollow handlebars of his bicycle and, on his training rides, delivering them to families in danger. He also used his celebrity to create disturbances at train stations—distracting the soldiers so families being deported could board other trains—and even hid a close friend’s family in his basement. Afterward, Bartali never spoke about it, saying “Good is something you do, not something you talk about.” The text does a good job of relaying Bartali’s actions and his role-model courage, but the illustrations really set this picture book apart. Each one is an overall accomplished design in the mode of early cycling posters that brings readers’ eyes in, around, and to the page turn. The use of highlights and shadows to both delineate objects and to evoke mood and atmosphere is masterful. Bicycle details are accurate to the time period, as is Bartali’s cycling kit—a welcome attention to detail that enhances the story’s authenticity. A note from Bartali’s granddaughter appears in the backmatter.
A well-made story and a welcome, timely reminder of what true courage is. (timeline, author’s note, sources) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-290811-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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