A lyrical and beautifully imagined prehistoric encounter.
A simple gesture vividly and profoundly transforms a Neanderthal boy’s life.
The child travels in search of shelter with his family. They find a cave, set up a hearth for cooking, and then rest. Meanwhile, the boy wistfully peers out from the cave at the vast valley outside. Before long, he’s off exploring—running, jumping, and rolling down hills with a joyous expression that will be familiar to contemporary children. An unseen narrator describes his journey with an infectious staccato cadence, drawing comparisons: “Trees big, / boy small. / Boy big, / crawler small.” These likenesses propel the narrative, as in this description of birds, woolly mammoths, and the boy: “Feathers in sky. / Feathers in hair. // Big hairies there. / Little hairy here.” Later, the child gazes across a river (“Boy here”) and sees another boy (“Boy there”)—a different kind of boy, a Homo sapiens. The Homo sapiens boy waves to the Neanderthal, and this seemingly small act seals their fateful encounter. A full-page spread sets the boys’ brown faces side by side, illustrating how much they share even though they are of different species. This affirming tale of connection is a superb marriage of text and visuals; Groenik's muted colors, soft rounded panels, images of caves backlit by fire, wordless spreads, and endearing facial expressions throughout culminate in a resplendent final scene that sees the Neanderthal boy returning home and memorializing his experience by making art that will reverberate through archeological history.
A lyrical and beautifully imagined prehistoric encounter. (author’s note, sources) (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781774881064
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Share this with young readers as a series of homilies on dreams and a family love strong enough to overcome any adversity.
Frederick Douglass’ mother imparts 12 lessons, one for each mile she walks on her clandestine nighttime visits to him.
The author has taken as her inspiration the line from Douglass’ writings in which he remembers his mother teaching him that he was “somebody’s child.” Douglass was in fact separated from his mother as an infant and rarely saw her. She died when he was 7. In this story, she walks the 12 miles from plantation to plantation and shares with him what each means. The first mile is for forgetting about being tired, and the following miles are for praying, giving thanks to God, singing, smiling, hoping to live together as a family, dreaming about freedom and loving her son, among others. In this, her debut effort, Armand focuses on the positive aspects of maternal devotion and a mother’s dreams of greatness for her son. The full-page watercolor paintings capture the nighttime setting and depict a loving mother and child with no overt signs of the horrors of slavery. Unfortunately, the text is sometimes difficult to read on the dark background.
Share this with young readers as a series of homilies on dreams and a family love strong enough to overcome any adversity. (afterword) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60060-245-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A historically specific setting with an eternal lesson.
A child’s special treat is given to a man in need, setting off a chain reaction of kindness.
It is a regular day on Tai Yuen Street in Hong Kong, full of “beeping, bickering, and bartering,” as a child’s parents set up their hawker stand. Suddenly, the usual bustle is interrupted by a THWUMP! as a man who has traveled “a thousand miles” by foot and boat to cross the border into Hong Kong falls to his knees. Bystanders turn away, “uninterested in hearing their own stories retold to them.” However, the protagonist’s mother hears the grumbles of the man’s stomach, and her kids watch horror-struck as she pulls out the special mooncake they were saving—the kind with the double-yolk center (“the best kind!”)—and asks the narrator to bring it to the hungry man. It takes two pages to slowly and sadly walk the treat over and only one gulp for the man to devour the entire cake. However, this single act of kindness unleashes a torrent of generosity from the nearby hawkers. Sepia and cool colors give this tale a historical feel, while delicate cartoon renderings of the bustling market street and crowds of people lighten the tone. In the backmatter, AuYeung notes that this story was based on an incident from her childhood, explains the historical significance of the refugee’s flight to Hong Kong, and shares family photos. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A historically specific setting with an eternal lesson. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64567-556-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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