A worthy supporting player in a curriculum but not the star of the show.
Burleigh and Hundley focus on the role that the Civil War—and specifically President Abraham Lincoln—played in the life of American poet Walt Whitman.
This is an ambitious, beautiful, bleak, and imperfect piece of historical fiction. Whitman was so affected by the strife in his politically divided country that he relocated from his home in New York to Washington to serve as a nurse to young, injured Union soldiers. The book details Whitman’s roles as a caregiver and engaged city resident but always through the context of his appreciation for the president. While imagining Whitman’s time in Washington, author Burleigh supposes several moments in which the lives of the men intersect. As Burleigh explains in his author’s note, these moments are pulled from Whitman’s own writings and are considered valid by historians, but they are given extra emotional weight in this writing. Hundley’s illustrations mirror the tone of the book impeccably, with the harsh blacks, dusty sepia, and brownish reds capturing the weight and cruelty of war. The illustrations capture a hyper-realistic Lincoln, imagining him larger than life. The added use of Whitman’s poetry throughout the text lends eloquence, and the backmatter (biographies, timeline, selected poems, endnotes, index) is weighty. Overall, the book is bold and aspirational, but its admirers will likely be educators instead of children.
A worthy supporting player in a curriculum but not the star of the show. (Historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3358-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless.
Tales of a fourth grade ne’er-do-well.
It seems that young Jordan is stuck in a never-ending string of bad luck. Sure, no one’s perfect (except maybe goody-two-shoes William Feranek), but Jordan can’t seem to keep his attention focused on the task at hand. Try as he may, things always go a bit sideways, much to his educators’ chagrin. But Jordan promises himself that fourth grade will be different. As the year unfolds, it does prove to be different, but in a way Jordan couldn’t possibly have predicted. This humorous memoir perfectly captures the square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling many kids feel and effectively heightens that feeling with comic situations and a splendid villain. Jordan’s teacher, Mrs. Fisher, makes an excellent foil, and the book’s 1970s setting allows for her cruelty to go beyond anything most contemporary readers could expect. Unfortunately, the story begins to run out of steam once Mrs. Fisher exits. Recollections spiral, losing their focus and leading to a more “then this happened” and less cause-and-effect structure. The anecdotes are all amusing and Jordan is an endearing protagonist, but the book comes dangerously close to wearing out its welcome with sheer repetitiveness. Thankfully, it ends on a high note, one pleasant and hopeful enough that readers will overlook some of the shabbier qualities. Jordan is White and Jewish while there is some diversity among his classmates; Mrs. Fisher is White.
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64723-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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