Stunning and empowering.
In Carol Powder’s Cree family, drumming skills are passed down through the generations.
“Moshum’s drumbeat went, PUH-POM, PUH-POM, PUH-POM, PUH-POM. Uncles’ voices poured out, ‘Hi-ya, hi-ya, way-ah, hey-ah-oh.’ Kokum sang, ‘We are strong…We are singing…And we will continue.’” Variations on this potent refrain are artfully threaded through Havrelock (Saddle Lake Plains Cree) and Aphelandra’s (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin) biography of drummer Powder. Carol learns to drum from Moshum, her great-grandfather, who says, “Women first made the drum. It is the sound of a mother’s heartbeat” and emphasizes that all people, including women and children, should drum together, “because that’s the only time anyone’s going to heal.” He tells her that one day women will be excluded from drumming but that it’s up to her to change that. After he passes, Carol continues to practice, growing up to teach her own children to drum and forming Chubby Cree, a female Indigenous drumming group. When Carol is told at a powwow that women are no longer welcome to drum, she faces her fears of speaking up (brilliantly illustrated in hues of blue) and continues to do so to this day, performing with her band, which now includes her grandson. Cree words are strung throughout the radiant illustrations, which make use of bold lines and a sunset palette. Characters are depicted in traditional Indigenous clothing, and the book has multiple gorgeous wordless spreads.
Stunning and empowering. (author’s and illustrator’s notes, note from Carol Powder) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781419756689
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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