Fails to do justice to a master spinner of tales.
A tribute to Appalachian storytelling legend Ray Hicks.
Hicks came from an impoverished family in the Blue Ridge Mountains and loved listening to his grandfather’s traditional Jack tales. Growing up steeped in a culture of oral storytelling and folk music, Hicks eagerly shared the stories that meant so much to him with schoolmates, the people he worked with, his own children, and, eventually, wider audiences at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. His talents made him a renowned and treasured teller during his lifetime, recognized for his achievements by then–Vice President George H.W. Bush, but he was happiest with his familiar rural life and content living in the place he knew best. Hicks is most worthy of a biographical treatment for young readers, but the main body of this work is devoid of the context that would pique readers' interest, given the lack of tension in the plot. Those who read the author's note will learn where he lived (North Carolina), when (1922-2003), and that the Jack tales he told—like his distinctive regional dialect—were part of his family’s cultural heritage extending back to the British Isles. The bright, gently surreal, dioramalike illustrations feel sterile and do not convey the rich texture of the mountain setting or life of a man who was deeply attuned to the natural world around him. With the exception of Hicks’ racially diverse Jonesborough audience, they depict an all-White cast. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22.8-inch double-page spreads viewed at 46.9% of actual size.)
Fails to do justice to a master spinner of tales. (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4788-6966-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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