A brilliant composer’s legacy perpetuated, happily for today’s music lovers, by stalwart friendships.
A virtuoso gets his due.
Franz Schubert, dubbed “Our Little Mushroom” by friends because he was small and rotund, adored music from childhood. Narrated by “we,” in the voice of his (mostly) unnamed, devoted friends, this lighthearted, informative biography discusses the brief life and career of the quiet Viennese prodigy. His father discouraged his musical ambition, citing its risky financial future. However, friends encouraged Schubert to follow his passion, and, in early adulthood, he joined them in pursuing a life devoted to the arts. These allies promoted Schubert’s vast accomplishments, enabling him to present impromptu concerts from which he earned a stellar reputation and ardent admirers, though no income; he gave only one paid public concert during his lifetime. By the time Schubert died at age 31 in 1828 (a year after the death of his idol, Ludwig van Beethoven, at whose funeral he’d been a torchbearer), he’d produced 1,000 musical works, including lieder—lyrical songs—some set to friends’ poems. This well-written, inspirational book might interest adults more than children, but youngsters studying Schubert’s piano pieces could also appreciate it; children would benefit from hearing the master’s music after listening to or reading this title. The delicate watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations are lively, admirably capturing Schubert’s fervent spirit and historical details of time and place. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A brilliant composer’s legacy perpetuated, happily for today’s music lovers, by stalwart friendships. (author's note, bibliography) (Picture-book biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-8878-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 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
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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