A historical account with a wholly original perspective, imbued with a crucial environmental message.
A street brings back memories of what once was.
Stroll along the pavement and learn more about Danforth Avenue in Toronto. Krossing warmly acquaints readers with the people who live there now—and “everyone who once did.” Relying on the refrain “my street remembers,” she offers snapshots of the history of the road, starting more than 14,000 years ago, when mammoths and mastodons roamed. Next, Krossing speaks of First Nations people and the harmonious relationship they enjoyed with the land. With three impressive, wordless spreads of people fishing, canoeing, and preparing food, Jamieson, an Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee descendant, lets readers soak in the tranquility of life before colonialism. But in the 17th century, the arrival of European settlers changed everything. The British pressured the Mississauga into signing unjust treaties; settlers built homes and widened roads. Reconciliation eventually followed, with Canada making an official apology to First Peoples. Jamieson’s naïve-style, symbol-laden artwork will inform readers while also encouraging them to reflect on their own relationships with the Earth. Krossing’s thoughtful text is rife with vivid imagery (“hard-heeled boots”); her well-researched backmatter supplements the narrative with historical context and urges youngsters to be mindful stewards of the land.
A historical account with a wholly original perspective, imbued with a crucial environmental message. (author’s and illustrator’s notes, sources) (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781773066356
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few...
Shamir offers an investigation of the foundations of freedoms in the United States via its founding documents, as well as movements and individuals who had great impacts on shaping and reshaping those institutions.
The opening pages of this picture book get off to a wobbly start with comments such as “You know that feeling you get…when you see a wide open field that you can run through without worrying about traffic or cars? That’s freedom.” But as the book progresses, Shamir slowly steadies the craft toward that wide-open field of freedom. She notes the many obvious-to-us-now exclusivities that the founding political documents embodied—that the entitled, white, male authors did not extend freedom to enslaved African-Americans, Native Americans, and women—and encourages readers to learn to exercise vigilance and foresight. The gradual inclusion of these left-behind people paints a modestly rosy picture of their circumstances today, and the text seems to give up on explaining how Native Americans continue to be left behind. Still, a vital part of what makes freedom daunting is its constant motion, and that is ably expressed. Numerous boxed tidbits give substance to the bigger political picture. Who were the abolitionists and the suffragists, what were the Montgomery bus boycott and the “Uprising of 20,000”? Faulkner’s artwork conveys settings and emotions quite well, and his drawing of Ruby Bridges is about as darling as it gets. A helpful timeline and bibliography appear as endnotes.
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few misfires. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-54728-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
A glorious monument to the national monuments.
The national monuments get their due.
Walker briefly recounts the history of the monuments (thank you, Teddy Roosevelt). Instead of the usual glossy photos, the text is paired with copious subtle watercolors, harmoniously arrayed with text on generous double-page spreads. Sparkling descriptions invite reader participation: “Imagine it’s 1892, and you’re arriving” in New York Harbor. “What will you see in the [pipestone] rocks?” Many monuments are in sites of superb natural beauty, but unlike the national parks, they must have historical, prehistorical, cultural, and/or scientific interest. Readers will find information on dinosaur fossils, geology, flora and fauna, and places important to Indigenous people, significant in history (Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, Stonewall National Monument, the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument), and/or connected to American leaders like Cesar Chavez. Fascinating facts are interspersed (the Washington Monument is held together through friction and gravity rather than mortar; the Pullman workers’ 1894 strike helped establish Labor Day). Regional maps throughout indicate the locations of the various monuments, divided by area: East, Central, Southwest, Mountain West, West, Alaska, and Tropics. A calm, subdued palette and geometric-based forms that use washes rather than line allow for a maximum of information without fussiness and, with help from typography, evoke classic WPA posters.
A glorious monument to the national monuments. (index) (Nonfiction. 6-10)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9780711265493
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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