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I HAVE A DREAM

A handsome edition in which 15 illustrators, Coretta Scott King's foreword, and an appended two-page biography of Martin Luther King Jr. create a unique context for his famous speech of 1963. It is as timely today as it was in the 1960s, and the artists have done the words justice: The astonishing courage required to remain nonviolent appears in George Ford's art for "Meeting Physical Force with Soul Force," while James Ransome provides an idealized, yet attainable banquet for "The Table of Brotherhood." Among the other artists are Jerry Pinkney, Brian Pinkney, Leo and Diane Dillon, Tom Feelings, and Pat Cummings. Adults who heard the speech will experience it anew; children who didn't will be able to place the words in a historical framework. (Nonfiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-590-20516-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1997

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PABLO PICASSO

paper 1-57505-370-5 In this valuable addition to the On My Own Biography series of easy readers, Lowery (Georgia O’Keeffe, 1996, etc.) renders an intriguing and lucid portrait of the man often referred to as the most celebrated artist of the 20th century. The book begins with young Picasso puzzling over math equations. Finding math difficult, he came up with an inventive alternative, swirling and bending numbers on the page until they became fanciful creations. As a boy, Picasso was often sent to a “cell” as punishment for his lack of academic focus, but there he found the long hours nothing but pleasant, doing just what he loved best, “drawing, drawing, drawing.” This book takes readers on a journey through the highlights of Picasso’s life, visiting his Blue Period, his Rose Period and lingering over cubism. Lowery also makes clear Picasso’s mercurial and tempestuous nature, describing his swings from flamboyant rage to ecstatic joy. She aptly demonstrates how Picasso’s art became an expression of his character and his character an extension of his art. In pleasing textures of oil on canvas and warm hues, Porter’s accompanying illustrations quite nicely echo the art of its subject. (photos, chronology) (Biography. 8-11)

Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1999

ISBN: 1-57505-331-4

Page Count: 44

Publisher: Carolrhoda

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999

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MALCOLM X

A FIRE BURNING BRIGHTLY

With but a light sprinkling of names and dates, Myers condenses his Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary (1993) to picture- book length. Myers takes readers through his subject’s childhood and turbulent career, pausing for significant episodes (such as a white teacher’s suggestion that he’d be better off studying carpentry than law), supplying samples of his vivid rhetoric, and tracing his movement toward visions of a more inclusive, less violent revolution. Placing realistic portraits of X and other icons of the civil rights movement against swirling backdrops of faces and street scenes, Jenkins captures a sense of tumultuous times. What emerges most clearly is a portrait of a complex, compelling spokesman who was growing and changing up to the moment he was cut down. (Picture book/biography. 6-8)

Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2000

ISBN: 0-06-027707-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999

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