Uplifting narrative and images demonstrate how pain can be healed through love and literary expression.
A beloved writer overcomes childhood trauma.
When Maya Angelou was a little girl, she loved words: their sounds, their rhythms, the lyrics of songs. She especially adored Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poetry. At age 8, she suffered a devastating assault—referred to here as an attack and “painful trauma”—and believed that her words were later responsible for the death of the person responsible. For years, she read and listened but spoke aloud only to her older brother, Bailey. Finally, a neighbor, Mrs. Beulah Flowers, insisted that Maya carry her groceries home. Mrs. Flowers read to Maya from A Tale of Two Cities when the two reached her home. Maya admired Mrs. Flowers, and her words of encouragement and her “melodic voice” inspired her to begin speaking again. Mrs. Flowers also provided a book of poetry and asked Maya to memorize one to recite on her next visit. Connie and Peter Roop share a powerful episode from the early life of a heralded writer, speaker, and teacher. Their in-depth research—detailed in an authors’ note—results in a telling that emphasizes the loving family and community that nourished Maya despite the harsh reality of segregated Arkansas. Denmon’s elegantly constructed, earth-toned digital art supports this engaging story; the words in the illustrations speak to their importance to Maya.
Uplifting narrative and images demonstrate how pain can be healed through love and literary expression. (Picture-book biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781481449267
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist.
Frida Kahlo’s strong affection for and identification with animals form the lens through which readers view her life and work in this picture-book biography.
Each two-page spread introduces one or more of her pets, comparing her characteristics to theirs and adding biographical details. Confusingly for young readers, the beginning pages reference pets she owned as an adult, yet the illustrations and events referred to come from earlier in her life. Bonito the parrot perches in a tree overlooking young Frida and her family in her childhood home and pops up again later, just before the first mention of Diego Rivera. Granizo, the fawn, another pet from her adult years, is pictured beside a young Frida and her father along with a description of “her life as a little girl.” The author’s note adds important details about Kahlo’s life and her significance as an artist, as well as recommending specific paintings that feature her beloved animals. Expressive acrylic paintings expertly evoke Kahlo’s style and color palette. While young animal lovers will identify with her attachment to her pets and may enjoy learning about the Aztec origins of her Xolo dogs and the meaning of turkeys in ancient Mexico, the book may be of most interest to those who already have an interest in Kahlo’s life.
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4269-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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