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FOOD FOR HOPE

HOW JOHN VAN HENGEL INVENTED FOOD BANKS FOR THE HUNGRY

An inspiring profile warmed by its (not undeserved) sentimental glow.

A loving tribute to grassroots activist John van Hengel, said to be the founder of the first food bank.

Van Hengel (1923-2005), who knew “the mind-numbing ache of hunger” from experience, found his vocation when, as a cook for his Arizona church’s soup kitchen, he discovered that grocery stores were discarding masses of useable stock. His gift was plainly an ability to think big; in 1967 he founded St. Mary’s Food Bank, which distributed 125 tons of donated food its first year. That led to Second Harvest (now called Feeding America). Van Hengel proved able to handle windfalls ranging from 5,000 live chickens to a million chocolate Easter bunnies—and he went on to help found more food banks around the world. Gottesfeld characterizes his subject’s early life as a “riches-to-rags” story, but he skips the causes of that descent and other specifics to focus on van Hengel’s achievements, faith, and humility before closing with a sentimental anecdote about a first grader who shook the then-old man’s “trembling hand,” saying, “You did good.” He did indeed. In the same idealized vein, Agatha arranges cast-out food in a dumpster with fussy precision, lays down chickens and chocolate bunnies in tidy rows, and depicts the joyful, plainly dressed White man joining racially diverse people standing in a food line, hauling bags and boxes, or gathered at tables. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An inspiring profile warmed by its (not undeserved) sentimental glow. (author’s note, note on research and dialogue, timeline) (Picture-book biography. 6-8)

Pub Date: May 2, 2023

ISBN: 9781954354241

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Creston

Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023

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BASKETBALL DREAMS

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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I AM RUBY BRIDGES

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

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