A sensitive exploration of an untidy, meaningful existence.
A portrait of a man whose life comprised a love of nature and poetry.
William Stanley Merwin (1927-2019) grew up in a town where everything was “straightened out” by the boundaries of homes and roads. Even as a boy, he yearned for wilderness and was fortunate to spend summers vacationing in a cabin in the woods. Merwin also enjoyed composing poems; he found that “writing poetry was like visiting a wild place…[with] language growing wherever it pleased.” Fountain omits the years Merwin spent with his first two wives in Spain and London and fast-forwards to Hawaii. There, instead of the wild land he sought, he purchased a “wounded” space, “stripped of all its rich, dark soil.” He lived in a sustainable home with his third wife and started growing palm trees, eventually planting almost 3,000, including endangered varieties sent from around the world. Fountain leans toward longer sentences, layering ideas with metaphors to effectively convey Merwin’s hope and curiosity. The digital illustrations are reminiscent of Aaron Douglas paintings; many of the compositions contain purple and green silhouettes of people and overlapping branches with varying degrees of saturation to create a sense of depth. Darker, leafy branches border many of the compositions. The White poet/gardener stayed involved with both passions, ultimately donating his land to a conservancy and becoming the United States Poet Laureate. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sensitive exploration of an untidy, meaningful existence. (author’s note, poem) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1126-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
An inspiring introduction to the young Nobel Peace Prize winner and a useful conversation starter.
The latest of many picture books about the young heroine from Pakistan, this one is narrated by Malala herself, with a frame that is accessible to young readers.
Malala introduces her story using a television show she used to watch about a boy with a magic pencil that he used to get himself and his friends out of trouble. Readers can easily follow Malala through her own discovery of troubles in her beloved home village, such as other children not attending school and soldiers taking over the village. Watercolor-and-ink illustrations give a strong sense of setting, while gold ink designs overlay Malala’s hopes onto her often dreary reality. The story makes clear Malala’s motivations for taking up the pen to tell the world about the hardships in her village and only alludes to the attempt on her life, with a black page (“the dangerous men tried to silence me. / But they failed”) and a hospital bracelet on her wrist the only hints of the harm that came to her. Crowds with signs join her call before she is shown giving her famous speech before the United Nations. Toward the end of the book, adult readers may need to help children understand Malala’s “work,” but the message of holding fast to courage and working together is powerful and clear.
An inspiring introduction to the young Nobel Peace Prize winner and a useful conversation starter. (Picture book/memoir. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-31957-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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