A veritable feast for the eyes and the mind.
Picture-book biographies about this important American artist abound; this one takes a path less traveled.
The book opens with Georgia O’Keeffe’s famed flower paintings but quickly shifts focus. After fleeing busy New York for “the wide skies” of New Mexico, the artist bought a home in Abiquiú in 1945. In addition to painting, she grew a garden, cooked, and baked. Readers will learn what she planted, how she relied on organic means to keep destructive insects at bay, and how her gardening and painting were deeply intertwined. When showcasing O’Keeffe’s art, Robinson employs quotes (undocumented, but a bibliography is provided). Hooper incorporates her subject’s style and content in key scenes: city skyscrapers against a darkened sky; puffy, isolated clouds foregrounding the garden. While O’Keeffe’s relationship to Alfred Stieglitz is not mentioned, the title does connect her childhood experiences on a Wisconsin farm to her adult pursuits. Shifting perspectives and dynamic design accompany interesting details, beautifully described. In one scene, a pea vine crosses the gutter diagonally, while small, sequential insets in mustard and black show O’Keeffe painting, sewing, and collecting bones as her garden grows. Following the harvest, a bountiful table with home-grown goodness and delectable desserts is paired with a recipe card for pecan butterballs. Who knew?
A veritable feast for the eyes and the mind. (photograph, biographical note, information on sustainable gardening, pecan butterballs recipe) (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9780823452668
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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
An inspiring introduction to the young Nobel Peace Prize winner and a useful conversation starter.
The latest of many picture books about the young heroine from Pakistan, this one is narrated by Malala herself, with a frame that is accessible to young readers.
Malala introduces her story using a television show she used to watch about a boy with a magic pencil that he used to get himself and his friends out of trouble. Readers can easily follow Malala through her own discovery of troubles in her beloved home village, such as other children not attending school and soldiers taking over the village. Watercolor-and-ink illustrations give a strong sense of setting, while gold ink designs overlay Malala’s hopes onto her often dreary reality. The story makes clear Malala’s motivations for taking up the pen to tell the world about the hardships in her village and only alludes to the attempt on her life, with a black page (“the dangerous men tried to silence me. / But they failed”) and a hospital bracelet on her wrist the only hints of the harm that came to her. Crowds with signs join her call before she is shown giving her famous speech before the United Nations. Toward the end of the book, adult readers may need to help children understand Malala’s “work,” but the message of holding fast to courage and working together is powerful and clear.
An inspiring introduction to the young Nobel Peace Prize winner and a useful conversation starter. (Picture book/memoir. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-31957-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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