An informative, engrossing biography about a clever, determined woman who, at the beginnings of photography, made the art...
This handsomely designed and illustrated biography introduces readers to the groundbreaking Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
The plain and short Julia Margaret was the odd one out in a family whose girls were known as “the beautiful Miss Pattles.” Rubin engagingly chronicles Cameron’s life from her privileged childhood in the cities of Calcutta and Versailles to her role in bohemian salons in England, whose luminaries, such as Charles Darwin and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, would later pose for her portraits. A ruthlessly meticulous, obsessive perfectionist, the commanding and eccentric photographer persuaded children and friends to dress up and hold still for the long sittings needed to stage scenes based on literature and myth. Rubin, author of many books about visual artists, clearly and concisely explains Cameron’s aesthetic sensibilities. In addition to the more than a dozen period photographs, including several by Cameron, are elegant illustrations by Ibatoulline emulating the pre-Raphaelite style of the time.
An informative, engrossing biography about a clever, determined woman who, at the beginnings of photography, made the art form uniquely her own. (source notes, bibliography, museum directory, index) (Biography. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5753-6
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
A beautiful, powerful reflection on a tragic history.
In spare verse, Lowry reflects on moments in her childhood, including the bombings of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.
When she was a child, Lowry played at Waikiki Beach with her grandmother while her father filmed. In the old home movie, the USS Arizona appears through the mist on the horizon. Looking back at her childhood in Hawaii and then Japan, Lowry reflects on the bombings that began and ended a war and how they affected and connected everyone involved. In Part 1, she shares the lives and actions of sailors at Pearl Harbor. Part 2 is stories of civilians in Hiroshima affected by the bombing. Part 3 presents her own experience as an American in Japan shortly after the war ended. The poems bring the haunting human scale of war to the forefront, like the Christmas cards a sailor sent days before he died or the 4-year-old who was buried with his red tricycle after Hiroshima. All the personal stories—of sailors, civilians, and Lowry herself—are grounding. There is heartbreak and hope, reminding readers to reflect on the past to create a more peaceful future. Lowry uses a variety of poetry styles, identifying some, such as triolet and haiku. Pak’s graphite illustrations are like still shots of history, adding to the emotion and somber feeling. He includes some sailors of color among the mostly white U.S. forces; Lowry is white.
A beautiful, powerful reflection on a tragic history. (author’s note, bibliography) (Memoir/poetry. 10-14)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-12940-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
PROFILES
Solidly historical and far more heartfelt than those on the overcrowded shelf of assignment-fodder profiles.
A reverent tribute to the great Hunkpapa chief and holy man, cast as a memoir with a rich array of new and contemporary illustrations.
Nelson also pays tribute (as he has elsewhere) to ledger-book art, with scenes done in that simple style. Here they depict, along with mystical symbols and traditional hunts and battles, a steamboat, a busy city street, the slaughter of women and children at Killdeer Mountain, Custer’s death (depicted as a suicide) at Little Big Horn, and Sitting Bull’s murder by a Lakota police officer. Sitting Bull himself, aptly named for a buffalo that would never back down, retraces in dignified language his early years, long struggles with the “wasichus” over invasions and broken promises, and his end. His is a strong voice, whether scorning subservient “Hang-Around-the-Forts” or commending his great contemporaries—of Crazy Horse: “He fought like a thunderstorm. I liked that man.” He closes with a stirring exhortation to “honor those traditions that still serve our people,” to “Brave up!” and to “go forth with a good heart.” The first-person narration makes this problematic as nonfiction, but the backmatter provides a wealth of information. Along with period photos distributed throughout and a detailed timeline of Lakota history up to Wounded Knee, Nelson’s lengthy closing notes on Lakota practices and spiritual beliefs will leave readers with a rich picture of this noble figure’s personal and cultural context.
Solidly historical and far more heartfelt than those on the overcrowded shelf of assignment-fodder profiles. (endnotes, bibliography, index) (Historical fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0731-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
