A thinner-than-thin profile, wrapped in lavender haze and sweeter than fiction.
The publisher’s long-running biographical series takes on megastar Taylor Swift.
Sánchez Vegara breathlessly starts Swift out as a girl at home who “believed in unicorns and fairy tales” as well as “the power of songs to tell stories and change the world.” The author then traces her subject’s enchanted career from first demo recordings at age 11 to the 2022 announcement of the Eras tour. Though her early devotion to country music made her a loner at school, she was able to shake it off, winning four Grammys by the time she turned 20. Readers may find the text frustratingly vague or confusing; Sánchez Vegara notes that Swift recorded her first album for a record label “after being spotted” at a gig (by whom?). Likewise, in the backmatter, the author states that after “her masters were sold without her permission, Taylor decided to take back ownership of her art”—some parental explanation may be necessary here, too. Sánchez Vegara covers familiar ground; confirmed Swifties will discover little new here, and even young children who don’t recognize Swift will never, ever read this book more than once. Figures in Fallberg’s star-bejeweled, often lilac-tinted scenes are racially diverse; one young listener in the final campfire singalong uses a wheelchair, and another wears an eye patch.
A thinner-than-thin profile, wrapped in lavender haze and sweeter than fiction. (Picture-book biography. 6-8)Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9780711295094
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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 unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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