An important, stirring tale—just be sure to read the backmatter.
Co-author and former child refugee Babakar remembers a special joy from her harrowing journey.
Young Mevan adores “lush and hilly” Kurdistan, where her family has lived for generations. Surrounded by loving relatives and community members, the budding poet feels “ten feet tall.” That all changes when Iraqi soldiers push her family out of their home. Depicting the soldiers with uniforms but no guns, the art works with the text to soften the desperation of the situation without glossing over it—a tricky yet essential needle to thread. As Mevan and her parents make an arduous voyage from Kurdistan to Turkey to Azerbaijan to Russia, she feels increasingly small. The art’s muted, earthy palette adeptly captures their alienation while also highlighting the nature (or lack thereof) in their surroundings. After two years in Russia, the family goes to the “green and bright” Netherlands, where a kind handyman named Egbert gives Mevan a bicycle. A wordless spread shows Mevan riding playfully around the neighborhood while her parents and Egbert look on—enjoying a carefree experience at last. Eventually the family finds a permanent home in another country, but they aren’t able to say goodbye to Egbert. Mevan never forgets his kindness, but it’s a bittersweet ending. Relegated to the backmatter is an astonishing revelation: a photo of Babakar and Egbert, along with an epilogue and author’s note stating that they reunited years later.
An important, stirring tale—just be sure to read the backmatter. (Picture-book memoir. 5-9)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780063056992
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes.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
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
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