A solid resource for examining historical perspectives and concepts of inclusion, exclusion, justice, and fairness.
The story of the printer, postmaster, and patriot whose choices played a significant role in American history.
This informative book captures the life of Mary Katharine Goddard, born under British rule in 1738 in Connecticut. Readers learn about the education her parents provided to not just their son, but also their daughter (which was unusual for that time); her involvement in the printmaking/newspaper industry, initially to help her distractible brother; her dedication to providing colonists with information that supported the American Revolution; her 14-year stint as Baltimore’s postmaster; and her decision to include her name when she was asked to print the Declaration of Independence, a brave choice that could have resulted in her death. Accessible and engaging text, quotations from her publications, and italicized statements that sum up relevant personality characteristics tell what is known of her story and provide historical context, bringing the uniqueness of her accomplishments as a colonial woman to light. Evocative, sepia-toned illustrations, which primarily feature White colonists, show additional details of a life in early America. An author’s note provides supplementary information about the lack of recognition Goddard received as well as additional details about her life, not all positive; an enslaved woman, to whom Goddard granted freedom in her will, helped run Goddard’s business and home. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A solid resource for examining historical perspectives and concepts of inclusion, exclusion, justice, and fairness. (glossary, sources) (Picture book/biography. 5-10)Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-29832-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few...
Shamir offers an investigation of the foundations of freedoms in the United States via its founding documents, as well as movements and individuals who had great impacts on shaping and reshaping those institutions.
The opening pages of this picture book get off to a wobbly start with comments such as “You know that feeling you get…when you see a wide open field that you can run through without worrying about traffic or cars? That’s freedom.” But as the book progresses, Shamir slowly steadies the craft toward that wide-open field of freedom. She notes the many obvious-to-us-now exclusivities that the founding political documents embodied—that the entitled, white, male authors did not extend freedom to enslaved African-Americans, Native Americans, and women—and encourages readers to learn to exercise vigilance and foresight. The gradual inclusion of these left-behind people paints a modestly rosy picture of their circumstances today, and the text seems to give up on explaining how Native Americans continue to be left behind. Still, a vital part of what makes freedom daunting is its constant motion, and that is ably expressed. Numerous boxed tidbits give substance to the bigger political picture. Who were the abolitionists and the suffragists, what were the Montgomery bus boycott and the “Uprising of 20,000”? Faulkner’s artwork conveys settings and emotions quite well, and his drawing of Ruby Bridges is about as darling as it gets. A helpful timeline and bibliography appear as endnotes.
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few misfires. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-54728-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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
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