It's hard to know which is more amazing—that the artifacts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls survived for 2,000 years, or that their reported discovery, reassembly, and translation were accomplished despite the hurdles created by war-torn countries and the uncooperative acts of competing scientists. Cooper (Buddy Love, 1995, etc.) establishes both a timeline and a relative order to the chaotic events surrounding the story of the scrolls' discovery. As the story goes, they were found hidden in a cave by two Bedouin shepherd boys. Their tribe sold the scrolls to several different dealers, and also swept up scraps of the crumbling scrolls from the cave floors: This made the work of the scholars who studied the scrolls extremely tedious and frustrating. Some of the scholars became overzealous and refused to allow others access to the parts they were working on. The finding of the scrolls took place in 1947, but it wasn't until the 1990s that many of the texts became available publicly. Cooper unravels this tangled knot of information, jumping between ancient and more recent historical references, letting readers know when there are conflicting facts, and providing back matter that further reveals the complications of this archaeological enigma. (b&w illustrations, chronology, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10+)
Pub Date: April 25, 1997
ISBN: 0-688-14300-8
Page Count: 55
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1997
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality.
An examination of the history of Chinese American experiences.
Blackburn opens with a note to readers about growing up feeling invisible as a multicultural, biracial Chinese American. She notes the tremendous diversity of Chinese American history and writes that this book is a starting point for learning more. The evenly paced narrative starts with the earliest recorded arrival of the Chinese in America in 1834. A teenage girl, whose real name is unknown, arrived in New York Harbor with the Carnes brothers, merchants who imported Chinese goods and put her on display “like an animal in a circus.” The author then examines shifting laws, U.S. and global political and economic climates, and changing societal attitudes. The book introduces the highlighted people—including Yee Ah Tye, Wong Kim Ark, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Vincent Chen—in relation to lawsuits or other transformative events; they also stand as examples for explaining concepts such as racial hierarchy and the model minority myth. Maps, photos, and documents are interspersed throughout. Chapters close with questions that encourage readers to think critically about systems of oppression, actively engage with the material, and draw connections to their own lives. Although the book covers a wide span of history, from the Gold Rush to the rise in anti-Asian hate during the Covid-19 pandemic, it thoroughly explains the various events. Blackburn doesn’t shy away from describing terrible setbacks, but she balances them with examples of solidarity and progress.
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality. (resources, bibliography, image credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567630
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
A superb tale of an era and an effort that forever changed our world.
In late December 1938, German chemist Otto Hahn discovered that uranium atoms could be split, and just a few months later the race to build an atomic bomb was on.
The story unfolds in three parts, covering American attempts to build the bomb, how the Soviets tried to steal American designs and how the Americans tried to keep the Germans from building a bomb. It was the eve of World War II, and the fate of the world was at stake, “[b]ut how was a theoretical physicist supposed to save the world?” It’s a true spy thriller, ranging from the football stadium at the University of Chicago to the mountains of Norway, from the deserts of New Mexico to laboratories in East Tennessee, and all along the way spies in the United States were feeding sensitive information to the KGB. Groups of photographs are sprinkled throughout the volume, offering just enough visual support for the splendid character development in the writing, and thorough documentation is provided in the backmatter. It takes a lot of work to make a complicated subject clear and exciting, and from his prodigious research and storytelling skill, Sheinkin has created a nonfiction story young people will wantto read.
A superb tale of an era and an effort that forever changed our world. (source notes, quotation notes, acknowledgments, photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59643-487-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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