Inspiring—and likely to have readers wishing for more female leaders to read about.
A quirky introduction to the world’s first democratically elected female president.
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected Iceland’s president in 1980. This picture-book biography, an Icelandic import, covers her pre-political life and her ascent onto the world stage. It’s illustrated in a lively, colorful, comic book style and presented as an interview “narrated” by a light-skinned aspiring child author who, determined to write a book about Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, arrives unannounced at her home. Vigdís relates her story, the words of her “interviewer” set among the illustrations. Vigdís’s words appear in speech bubbles; occasionally, the child’s are, too. Born in 1930, Vigdís grew up in Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital; she was 10 when World War II began. At age 19, she went to France to study. Returning to Iceland, she taught French in schools and on TV and became a tour guide. Eventually, Vigdís adopted a daughter, becoming Iceland’s first single woman to adopt a child. For years, Vigdís was a theater manager; after a 1975 strike, she became a women’s rights activist. Five years later, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers encouraged her to run for president. Claiming initially to be uninterested, Vigdís changed her mind, ran, won, and remained in office for 16 years. Full of appealing, offbeat illustrations, this one will give youngsters insight into a nation—and a political figure—they may be unfamiliar with.
Inspiring—and likely to have readers wishing for more female leaders to read about. (Picture-book biography. 6-9)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9783039640416
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Helvetiq
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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
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
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