A reverent invitation to an enduring classic for new audiences.
A profile of the author of The Prophet, incorporating atmospheric images and phrases from his writings.
In retracing the events of their subject’s life, McCarthy focuses on two themes: the experience of growing up in two countries and Gibran’s “secret hope” that through his art and words he would someday have a gift to give to the world. Born Gibran Khalil Gibran in Lebanon to the Maronite faith, he fled sectarian strife as a child to Boston, where his name was shortened. He was sent back to Lebanon to finish his education and meditate among the cedars and then wound up in New York (“the electric shining heart of America”), where, McCarthy writes, he painted and composed poems intended “to connect the people of Lebanon” and “help Americans come together in celebration of their many differences.” His paintings and drawings, which ran to nudes, get little scrutiny here, but that inner dream was realized in a short but powerful book that has brought generations of readers “straight to the heart of hope.” Appended source notes in smaller type add both psychological insight, with mention of his “existential depression” and emotionally abusive father, and biographical detail. Incorporating snippets of patterned and printed papers into stunning painted collage illustrations, Holmes creates images of dignified figures of various ages, mostly people of color, placed in diverse settings rich in hues that underscore the overall intensity of feeling. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A reverent invitation to an enduring classic for new audiences. (bibliography) (Picture-book biography. 6-9)Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0032-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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
Blandly laudatory.
The iconic animator introduces young readers to each “happy place” in his life.
The tally begins with his childhood home in Marceline, Missouri, and climaxes with Disneyland (carefully designed to be “the happiest place on Earth”), but the account really centers on finding his true happy place, not on a map but in drawing. In sketching out his early flubs and later rocket to the top, the fictive narrator gives Ub Iwerks and other Disney studio workers a nod (leaving his labor disputes with them unmentioned) and squeezes in quick references to his animated films, from Steamboat Willie to Winnie the Pooh (sans Fantasia and Song of the South). Eliopoulos incorporates stills from the films into his cartoon illustrations and, characteristically for this series, depicts Disney as a caricature, trademark mustache in place on outsized head even in childhood years and child sized even as an adult. Human figures default to white, with occasional people of color in crowd scenes and (ahistorically) in the animation studio. One unidentified animator builds up the role-modeling with an observation that Walt and Mickey were really the same (“Both fearless; both resourceful”). An assertion toward the end—“So when do you stop being a child? When you stop dreaming”—muddles the overall follow-your-bliss message. A timeline to the EPCOT Center’s 1982 opening offers photos of the man with select associates, rodent and otherwise. An additional series entry, I Am Marie Curie, publishes simultaneously, featuring a gowned, toddler-sized version of the groundbreaking physicist accepting her two Nobel prizes.
Blandly laudatory. (bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2875-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
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