Catastrophically engrossing.
Fact-file inserts and eyewitness accounts help readers understand the causes, courses, and aftermaths of five historical calamities.
Confirmed disaster fans will likely already be familiar with the examples Crowley Redding has chosen, but they’ll be pleased with her selection. The disasters vary widely in type and scope—the flu epidemic of 1918 killed roughly 50 million people worldwide, whereas 21 people died in Boston’s Great Molasses Flood of 1919—and for each catastrophe, the author includes a broad assortment of background facts and accounts of actual young survivors, such as Werner Franz, a cabin boy aboard the Hindenburg. Along with systematically analyzing causes and long-term effects, Crowley Redding highlights the impact of anti-immigrant prejudice in both the Great Chicago Fire (no, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow wasn’t the culprit, contrary to a news story that stoked anti-Irish, anti-Catholic sentiments) and the sticky flood in Boston’s North End. She also profiles rescuer Anna Elizabeth Hudlun, the “Fire Angel” of Chicago, as well as other Black people involved in the catastrophes. Though the occasional demonstrations of such topics as freezing chemistry and static electricity are woefully perfunctory, the blow-by-blow narratives make for absorbing reading, and the substantial bibliography at the end should please even the most demanding young documentarians. Final art not seen.
Catastrophically engrossing. (source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: May 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781536213416
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Logically pointing out that the American cowboy archetype didn’t spring up from nowhere, Sandler, author of Cowboys (1994) and other volumes in the superficial, if luxuriously illustrated, “Library of Congress Book” series, looks back over 400 years of cattle tending in North America. His coverage ranges from the livestock carried on Columbus’s second voyage to today’s herding-by-helicopter operations. Here, too, the generous array of dramatic early prints, paintings, and photos are more likely to capture readers’ imaginations than the generality-ridden text. But among his vague comments about the characters, values, and culture passed by Mexican vaqueros to later arrivals from the Eastern US, Sadler intersperses nods to the gauchos, llaneros, and other South American “cowmen,” plus the paniolos of Hawaii, and the renowned African-American cowboys. He also decries the role film and popular literature have played in suppressing the vaqueros’ place in the history of the American West. He tackles an uncommon topic, and will broaden the historical perspective of many young cowboy fans, but his glance at modern vaqueros seems to stop at this country’s borders. Young readers will get a far more detailed, vivid picture of vaquero life and work from the cowboy classics in his annotated bibliography. (Notes, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6019-7
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
An introduction to ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings. The authors begin with how archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut, then move back 3,000 years to the time of Thutmosis I, who built the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Finally they describe the building of the tomb of a later Pharaoh, Ramses II. The backward-forward narration is not always easy to follow, and the authors attribute emotions to the Pharaohs without citation. For example, “Thutmosis III was furious [with Hatshepsut]. He was especially annoyed that she planned to be buried in KV 20, the tomb of her father.” Since both these people lived 3,500 years ago, speculation on who was furious or annoyed should be used with extreme caution. And the tangled intrigue of Egyptian royalty is not easily sorted out in so brief a work. Throughout, though, there are spectacular photographs of ancient Egyptian artifacts, monuments, tomb paintings, jewels, and death masks that will appeal to young viewers. The photographs of the exposed mummies of Ramses II, King Tut, and Seti I are compelling. More useful for the hauntingly beautiful photos than the text. (brief bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7922-7223-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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