This introduction to an American icon feels just right.
From her girlhood days to her legacy as a writer for the ages, Zora Neale Hurston is introduced to young readers.
“In a town called Eatonville—where the magnolias smelled even prettier than they looked…lived a girl who was attracted to tales like mosquitoes to skin.” Zora, clad in overalls and running through fields, loves being sent to Joe Clarke’s store, where she turns every quick errand into a chance to listen to the stories being told on the store’s porch. When she tells her own tales, her father and her grandmother punish her for “tellin’ lies,” but her mother values her stories and encourages her to “jump at [the] sun.” She wants more for her children than working the land. Sadly, her mother dies, but Zora remembers her encouragement throughout her life, which she spends in and out of different schools in different cities before finding her place in New York City as a writer and folklorist, a career that takes her back to her all-Black hometown to record those front-porch stories. Zora is depicted as the fun-loving, strong-willed person she most certainly was, and the text uses dialect as playfully as Zora did to transport readers into her world. Whimsical illustrations show Zora’s many worlds—country and city, school and social life—with energy and joy. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This introduction to an American icon feels just right. (author’s note, additional reading, sources) (Picture book/biography. 4-9)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1913-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Readers will agree that “Melba Doretta Liston was something special.”
Bewitched by the rhythms of jazz all around her in Depression-era Kansas City, little Melba Doretta Liston longs to make music in this fictional account of a little-known jazz great.
Picking up the trombone at 7, the little girl teaches herself to play with the support of her Grandpa John and Momma Lucille, performing on the radio at 8 and touring as a pro at just 17. Both text and illustrations make it clear that it’s not all easy for Melba; “The Best Service for WHITES ONLY” reads a sign in a hotel window as the narrative describes a bigotry-plagued tour in the South with Billie Holiday. But joy carries the day, and the story ends on a high note, with Melba “dazzling audiences and making headlines” around the world. Russell-Brown’s debut text has an innate musicality, mixing judicious use of onomatopoeia with often sonorous prose. Morrison’s sinuous, exaggerated lines are the perfect match for Melba’s story; she puts her entire body into her playing, the exaggerated arch of her back and thrust of her shoulders mirroring the curves of her instrument. In one thrilling spread, the evening gown–clad instrumentalist stands over the male musicians, her slide crossing the gutter while the back bow disappears off the page to the left. An impressive discography complements a two-page afterword and a thorough bibliography.
Readers will agree that “Melba Doretta Liston was something special.” (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-60060-898-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
A resplendent masterpiece.
Based on her experience of leaving Mexico for the United States, Morales’ latest offers an immigrant’s tale steeped in hope, dreams, and love.
This story begins with a union between mother and son, with arms outstretched in the midst of a new beginning. Soon after, mother and son step on a bridge, expansive “like the universe,” to cross to the other side, to become immigrants. An ethereal city appears, enfolded in fog. The brown-skinned woman and her child walk through this strange new land, unwilling to speak, unaccustomed to “words unlike those of our ancestors.” But soon their journey takes them to the most marvelous of places: the library. In a series of stunning double-page spreads, Morales fully captures the sheer bliss of discovery as their imaginations take flight. The vibrant, surreal mixed-media artwork, including Mexican fabric, metal sheets, “the comal where I grill my quesadillas,” childhood drawings, and leaves and plants, represents a spectacular culmination of the author’s work thus far. Presented in both English and Spanish editions (the latter in Teresa Mlawer’s translation), equal in evocative language, the text moves with purpose. No word is unnecessary, each a deliberate steppingstone onto the next. Details in the art provide cultural markers specific to the U.S., but the story ultimately belongs to one immigrant mother and her son. Thanks to books and stories (some of her favorites are appended), the pair find their voices as “soñadores of the world.”
A resplendent masterpiece. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4055-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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