Based on both historical sources and a bit of speculation, Bartoletti recreates the construction of the immense “garrison” flag that (probably) flew over Fort McHenry, was immortalized by Francis Scott Key, and was sewn by Mary Pickengill, a Baltimore businesswoman. She had help from her 12-year-old daughter Caroline, and likely, though no evidence survives, also from relatives, a slave, and a free black employee. Bartoletti relates the tale from Caroline’s point of view, beginning with the flag’s commission, ending with the long, stormy night during which it withstood those storied rockets and bombs, and capped by a detailed explanation of the limited historical record, along with facts about the flag. Nivola illustrates it all in restrained, neatly drawn scenes, either of focused-looking women hard at work, or wide, white, tidy Baltimore streets, with the distant fort visible in the background. As inspiring as it is elegantly turned out, this will add unusual dimension to a famous episode in our national story. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 22, 2004
ISBN: 0-618-26757-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2004
Strong rhythms and occasional full or partial rhymes give this account of P.T. Barnum’s 1884 elephant parade across the newly opened Brooklyn Bridge an incantatory tone. Catching a whiff of public concern about the new bridge’s sturdiness, Barnum seizes the moment: “’I will stage an event / that will calm every fear, erase every worry, / about that remarkable bridge. / My display will amuse, inform / and astound some. / Or else my name isn’t Barnum!’” Using a rich palette of glowing golds and browns, Roca imbues the pachyderms with a calm solidity, sending them ambling past equally solid-looking buildings and over a truly monumental bridge—which soars over a striped Big Top tent in the final scene. A stately rendition of the episode, less exuberant, but also less fictionalized, than Phil Bildner’s Twenty-One Elephants (2004), illustrated by LeUyen Pham. (author’s note, resource list) (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-44887-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005
A clear, understandable account of a young Jewish boy's terrible experiences during the World War II. In 1944, when Eliezer Wiesel was 15, his town of Sighet (then part of Hungary) was invaded by the German army, who forced all the Jews to live in ghettos. From there, the Wiesel family were sent to concentration camps where, with the exception of Elie, they all were killed. Without fanfare but with dignified emphasis, author Pariser describes the cruelties and horrors of Wiesel's life as an inmate, as well as his subsequent liberation by Allied forces and his future vocation as a journalist, author, speaker, and political activist. Photographs from the WW II period establish a mood of somber witness. With its clear, narrative style, useful bibliography, chronology, and index, this is an excellent introduction to what is undeniably one of the darkest periods in modern history. (Nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Aug. 15, 1994
ISBN: 1-56294-419-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
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