Big ideas, yes, but given poor service.
A broad overview of history, with an eye to lessons it can teach.
Though initially framing their account broadly chronologically as a march of progress beginning with the Big Bang, by the time the modern era swims into view, the authors shift to topical segments ranging in scope from the invention of central heating and an interesting notion that belief in God was replaced by reverence for art to an oversimplified account of the legacy of colonization on newly independent African states. The overall approach is exemplified by an explanation that the Roman Empire fell because the Romans “lost confidence in themselves” and “gave up trying to be better”: “Rome needed psychotherapy.” Many segments feature open-ended questions or reflections, but along with plenty of factual errors (no, the heliocentric solar system wasn’t Galileo’s discovery, and Edward Jenner used cowpox, not smallpox, to immunize his subjects), dubious claims, such as that women didn’t earn but were given the vote in Great Britain because the government “just believed that this was the right and fair thing to do,” point to an optimism that goes beyond determined to blinkered coupled with, in many instances, a superficial level of detail that omits critical context. Amid stock images, Doherty’s racially diverse cartoon scenes are charming but appear directed at a much younger audience than the level of the text. Ultimately, there is little to redeem the narrative’s hand-wavy dismissal of accuracy in the name of personal self-realization.
Big ideas, yes, but given poor service. (image credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-912891-80-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: School of Life
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality.
An examination of the history of Chinese American experiences.
Blackburn opens with a note to readers about growing up feeling invisible as a multicultural, biracial Chinese American. She notes the tremendous diversity of Chinese American history and writes that this book is a starting point for learning more. The evenly paced narrative starts with the earliest recorded arrival of the Chinese in America in 1834. A teenage girl, whose real name is unknown, arrived in New York Harbor with the Carnes brothers, merchants who imported Chinese goods and put her on display “like an animal in a circus.” The author then examines shifting laws, U.S. and global political and economic climates, and changing societal attitudes. The book introduces the highlighted people—including Yee Ah Tye, Wong Kim Ark, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Vincent Chen—in relation to lawsuits or other transformative events; they also stand as examples for explaining concepts such as racial hierarchy and the model minority myth. Maps, photos, and documents are interspersed throughout. Chapters close with questions that encourage readers to think critically about systems of oppression, actively engage with the material, and draw connections to their own lives. Although the book covers a wide span of history, from the Gold Rush to the rise in anti-Asian hate during the Covid-19 pandemic, it thoroughly explains the various events. Blackburn doesn’t shy away from describing terrible setbacks, but she balances them with examples of solidarity and progress.
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality. (resources, bibliography, image credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567630
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
An extraordinary tale of sisterhood and survival, told with simplicity.
A true story of two sisters—one Deaf and one hearing—and how they endured a perilous childhood in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.
Herta Myers, 8, and Renee, 10, are sisters living in Bratislava, the capital of what was then Czechoslovakia, during World War II. Renee is her family’s ears, as Herta and both of their parents are Deaf. They all communicate using sign language. Renee becomes so good at recognizing the sound of soldiers’ boots outside the window that she can warn her family of any danger. With narration traded between the girls, readers learn that the sisters are hidden on a farm with a couple who are also Deaf. Eventually, separated from their parents, the sisters’ journey leads them to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where their collective resolve is endlessly tested. This is a compelling story, exploring the role that senses play when one is in danger as well as presenting the candid recollections of everyday details of two children navigating appalling conditions during wartime. It is, however, a lot to process for kids who are as young as Herta and Renee were at the time of their most traumatic experiences. In the epilogue, co-author Greene reveals that this book is largely a compilation and interweaving of the transcripts of interviews that these two sisters gave to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University.
An extraordinary tale of sisterhood and survival, told with simplicity. (poem, photographs) (Memoir. 10-14)Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-75335-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
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