A rousing blueprint for economic self-determination and success.
The true story of the first self-made African American female millionaire.
Annie Malone (1877-1957) loved playing “beauty parlor” by styling her sister’s hair. She was so talented that even the adults in her community had Annie style their hair. Believing that hair was her “destiny,” even as she was told that Black women could aspire only to be “maids, washerwomen, or cooks,” she learned from her aunt, a herb doctor, to develop formulas for hair products that would help to style, protect, and heal the scalps of Black women, who often suffered from hair loss and scalp ailments due to inappropriate grooming products and the harsh process of straightening their hair. Her Wonderful Hair Grower was the first of many products and services that she would go on to create to enhance and affirm Black women’s beauty. Catarevas weaves a lifetime of events—Malone’s early years, her evolution to business owner, and the development of a successful business strategy during a time when career options for Black women were limited—into a well-paced, engrossing narrative that will have readers rooting for Annie. Marshall’s illustrations, a mosaic of rich colors, skillfully complement the text and convey the feel of the period while capturing Annie’s passion and the dignity of the women depicted. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A rousing blueprint for economic self-determination and success. (author’s note, timeline, bibliography) (Picture-book biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-954354-10-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creston
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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