Though Whitman’s sophisticated 19th-century vocabulary may tax today’s youth, this dynamic volume proves a seminal addition...
The third installment in the hard-core Poetry for Kids series again weds top-notch scholarship with visual artistry in introducing children to the poetic wonders of another American treasure: Walt Whitman.
Here, Whitman scholar Karbiener (Liberal Studies, New York Univ.) and illustrator Evans harmoniously capture the immediacy of Whitman’s verse, and perhaps in no other instance does this series’ 8-inch-wide format serve better, affording readers the rare pleasure of seeing Whitman’s seemingly endless lines run clear across the page, unenjambed as he intended. In her preface, Karbiener explains that she seeks to provide a rough biographical sketch of Whitman, fleshed out in endnotes. For example, “Come Up from the Fields Father” depicts the moment a family receives the news its only son has been injured in battle: “O this is not our son’s writing, yet his name is sign’d; / O a strange hand writes for our dear son—O stricken mother’s soul!” Karbiener’s notes on the poem describe how that “strange hand” often belonged to Whitman, who, as a volunteer during the Civil War, “wrote hundreds of letters that briefed families on soldiers’ conditions.” Evans’ deeply expressive earth-toned watercolors match both the poet’s exacting attention to detail and his proclivity for cataloging vast states of nature and cityscapes.
Though Whitman’s sophisticated 19th-century vocabulary may tax today’s youth, this dynamic volume proves a seminal addition to any library. (glossed terms in margins) (Picture book/poetry. 10-16)Pub Date: July 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63322-150-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Moondance/Quarto
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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