A brightly illustrated tribute that brings more deserving names to light.
Olympic medalists and siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani compile profiles of notable Asian Americans.
The authors devote a concise paragraph to each person, describing their backgrounds, achievements, and lasting legacies. Several subjects share each spread, and the Shibutanis include politicians, artists, athletes, scientists, and more. They cover names that may be familiar to readers, such as musician Olivia Rodrigo, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Jhumpa Lahiri, activist Grace Lee Boggs, and Patsy Mink, the first woman of color elected to Congress. What sets this collection apart is the inclusion of potentially lesser-known names: aviator Katherine Sui Fun Cheung, disability and social justice activist Stacey Park Milbern, Narinder Singh Kapany, considered to be “the father of fiber optics,” and Mark Tatum, deputy commissioner and chief operating officer of the National Basketball Association. The entries are accompanied by vibrant, realistic portraits of the subjects set against richly hued backdrops. Though the book lacks a bibliography or further reading that might point curious youngsters toward other sources, many will be inspired to do their own research. The authors offer a solid balance of South Asian, Southeast Asian, East Asian, and Pacific Islander representation.
A brightly illustrated tribute that brings more deserving names to light. (authors' note) (Informational picture book/collective biography. 5-9)Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9780593525463
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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