Charming, funny, strange, and sad. A better bio of Jim could hardly exist.
Beloved children’s book creator James Marshall receives his due.
How well do today’s kids know Marshall’s work? If their knowledge is insufficient, then Connors aims to rectify the situation! Similar to one of Marshall’s George and Martha books, this volume is divided into six short stories. Connors encapsulates the life and work of Marshall, referred to here as James or Jim—his path to publication, his school visits, and his death from AIDS in 1992. The major players in Jim’s life are depicted as Marshall-esque animals: Jim is a fox, his friends and fellow authors Maurice Sendak and Arnold Lobel are a bulldog and a pig (respectively), and Jim’s longtime romantic partner, Billy, is a cat. With its witty invented dialogue, the book falls squarely into the “informational fiction” category of biography, reminding readers that the greatest truths are often told through the eyes of fiction. Connors knows his subject well, each tale highlighting a universal truth through the lens of Marshall’s life; the final chapter, which finds Jim in the hospital surrounded by loved ones, brings this rich and affectionate tribute to a conclusion that's simultaneously uplifting and heartbreaking as Jim muses on his legacy. The book is rife with Marshall in-jokes (delightful touches include the alternate names for Viola Swamp from Miss Nelson Is Missing!), and Connors’ animated, thick-lined cartoon illustrations are reminiscent of Marshall’s own.
Charming, funny, strange, and sad. A better bio of Jim could hardly exist. (timeline) (Picture-book biography. 5-8)Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780593859346
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes.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
PERSPECTIVES
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
