A silly story that weaves in a fair amount of history.
In the debut volume of the Time Twisters series, Abraham Lincoln arrives at Abby and Doc’s school to prove that history isn’t boring.
But history certainly seems boring when students read in their textbook: “Abraham Lincoln turned to the next page of the newspaper. He took a sip of coffee. He put his feet up on his desk. He read some more.” Even Ms. Maybee admits the book is “a little dry.” Fortunately, Lincoln arrives via a cardboard box in the storage room to rescue history. It’s stories that make history interesting, and they’ve disappeared from the textbooks. Miffed, Lincoln returns to his own time, and Abby and Doc follow him (“like The Magic Treehouse,” Abby notes). He says he and his fellow historical characters—Pocahontas, Washington, Harriet Tubman—can hear students snoring in class and are fed up. “Since you insist on saying our lives are boring, well then, we’ll show you,” Lincoln says, announcing that he’s quitting history. In the course of a silly tale, Sheinkin leads his protagonists to the stories that make Lincoln and his times interesting, which prompts them to find a way to get them back into the books. In Swaab’s illustrations, Abby seems to be white and Doc, black. By the end, readers will have learned quite a bit of history along with the protagonists, without being bored at all. When young readers are ready, they can move on to Sheinkin’s not-boring histories, such as Bomb (2012).
A silly story that weaves in a fair amount of history. (historical note) (Historical fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-15246-6
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
Fantasy training wheels for chapter-book readers.
Elliot’s first day of school turns out to be more than he bargained for.
Elliot Eisner—skinny and pale with curly brown hair—is a bit nervous about being the new kid. Thankfully, he hits it off with fellow new student, “punk rock”–looking Uchenna Devereaux, a black girl with twists (though they actually look like dreads in Aly’s illustrations). On a first-day field trip to New Jersey’s Pine Barrens, the pair investigates a noise in the trees. The cause? A Jersey Devil: a blue-furred, red-bellied and -winged mythical creature that looks like “a tiny dragon” with cloven hooves, like a deer’s, on its hind feet. Unwittingly, the duo bonds with the creature by feeding it, and it later follows them back to the bus. Unsurprisingly, they lose the creature (which they alternately nickname Jersey and Bonechewer), which forces them to go to their intimidating, decidedly odd teacher, Peruvian Professor Fauna, for help in recovering it. The book closes with Professor Fauna revealing the truth—he heads a secret organization committed to protecting mythical creatures—and inviting the children to join, a neat setup for what is obviously intended to be a series. The predictable plot is geared to newly independent readers who are not yet ready for the usual heft of contemporary fantasies. A brief history lesson given by a mixed-race associate of Fauna’s in which she compares herself to the American “melting pot” manages to come across as simultaneously corrective and appropriative.
Fantasy training wheels for chapter-book readers. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-3170-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An evocative and empowering tribute to human dignity and optimism.
This story, inspired by the author’s grandparents, celebrates love blooming in the desert during a time of extreme duress.
In a World War II incarceration camp for Japanese Americans, two young people find respite in one another. In Minidoka, families are crowded together, enduring harsh weather, barbed wire fences, the intimidating scrutiny of White armed guards, and the stress of unjust imprisonment. Book lover Tama finds solace volunteering in the camp library, where she is visited daily by George, a handsome young man with a seemingly insatiable appetite for reading. Tama, who revels in the power of words, struggles to name her overwhelming feelings. George’s reassurance that she is only human opens the door to love, marriage, and the birth of their first child in camp, a bubble of happiness in the midst of struggle. The gentle text shows how, no matter how bleak the outlook, people can find ways to hope, dream, and endure. An author’s note fills in some background on the real Tama and George Tokuda and connects their story to the many other American communities who experience racism but nevertheless claim joy. Imamura’s soft, exquisite illustrations capture the physical locale, using light and shadow in powerful ways. The 1940s setting comes to life with loving care in details of the decor and characters’ clothes.
An evocative and empowering tribute to human dignity and optimism. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0430-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
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