A sturdy portrayal of Victorian scientist Mary Anning that showcases her accomplishments, intelligence, and perseverance.
A new picture-book biography of the pioneering scientist and finder of bones.
Armed with both a hammer and chisel and a spirit of inquiry, young Mary Anning searched the beach and cliffs of Lyme Regis, England, eventually unearthing the bones of an enormous, heretofore-unknown creature. Action-filled illustrations and straightforward text allow Anning’s determination to shine through and show how her knowledge as well as the fossils she found were initially dismissed because of the sexism of the time yet nevertheless led to the study of fossils, the invention of paleontology, the understanding that animals could become extinct, and the discovery of dinosaurs. Though her financial struggles as a white woman of the time are made evident, portions of her story, including the facts that she was struck by lightning as a baby and that her father died when she was around 11, go unmentioned before the informative backmatter, which seems a lost opportunity. Readers likely to ask questions—her age when she made various discoveries, why she began searching the cliffs, the specific time period in which she lived—will have to wait for the timeline and author’s note. (An additional spread offers a smattering of paleontology facts.) Still, Anning is clearly a worthy subject, and this tale of her accomplishments is sure to elicit excitement and curiosity.
A sturdy portrayal of Victorian scientist Mary Anning that showcases her accomplishments, intelligence, and perseverance. (Picture book/biography. 6-9)Pub Date: July 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0951-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
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
Blandly laudatory.
The iconic animator introduces young readers to each “happy place” in his life.
The tally begins with his childhood home in Marceline, Missouri, and climaxes with Disneyland (carefully designed to be “the happiest place on Earth”), but the account really centers on finding his true happy place, not on a map but in drawing. In sketching out his early flubs and later rocket to the top, the fictive narrator gives Ub Iwerks and other Disney studio workers a nod (leaving his labor disputes with them unmentioned) and squeezes in quick references to his animated films, from Steamboat Willie to Winnie the Pooh (sans Fantasia and Song of the South). Eliopoulos incorporates stills from the films into his cartoon illustrations and, characteristically for this series, depicts Disney as a caricature, trademark mustache in place on outsized head even in childhood years and child sized even as an adult. Human figures default to white, with occasional people of color in crowd scenes and (ahistorically) in the animation studio. One unidentified animator builds up the role-modeling with an observation that Walt and Mickey were really the same (“Both fearless; both resourceful”). An assertion toward the end—“So when do you stop being a child? When you stop dreaming”—muddles the overall follow-your-bliss message. A timeline to the EPCOT Center’s 1982 opening offers photos of the man with select associates, rodent and otherwise. An additional series entry, I Am Marie Curie, publishes simultaneously, featuring a gowned, toddler-sized version of the groundbreaking physicist accepting her two Nobel prizes.
Blandly laudatory. (bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2875-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
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