A beautifully realized homage.
When the Nazis came for Anne Frank’s family and the other Jewish friends who had been hidden in the secret annex, Anne left behind the diary that would be read and cherished around the world.
It was Miep Gies, with help from her husband and a few others, who hid and cared for them for two years, all risking their own lives. Anne wrote in her diary constantly, chronicling her loneliness and fears as well as the events and relationships she observed. Miep knew the Nazis would be back to steal the belongings, but she knew she could not let them find that diary. She locked it away to await Anne’s return. But Otto Frank was the only one who survived. Anne’s mother died of starvation, and Anne and her sister both died of typhus. Miep gave Otto the diary but never read it until long after it had been published. Anne wanted to be a writer, to be remembered, and her beloved diary achieved that for her. Pincus narrates the terrible facts accurately, not understating them but not allowing the horrors to overwhelm the intensely heroic accomplishment of this kind, courageous woman, employing quotes from Miep’s own writing. Solano’s full- and double-page spreads are done in shades of brown and sepia that perfectly capture the somber mood. Endpapers copy the original cover design of Anne’s diary.
A beautifully realized homage. (author’s note, biographical note, timeline) (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-53411-025-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Shot through with vague generalities and paired to a mix of equally generic period images and static new art, this overview remorselessly sucks all the juice from its topic.
This survey of the growth of industries in this country from the Colonial period to the post–World War II era is written in the driest of textbook-ese: “Factories needed good transportation so that materials could reach them and so that materials could reach buyers”; “The metal iron is obtained by heating iron ore”; “In 1860, the North said that free men, not slaves, should do the work.” This text is supplemented by a jumble of narrative-overview blocks, boxed side observations and terse captions on each thematic spread. The design is packed with overlapping, misleadingly seamless and rarely differentiated mixes of small, heavily trimmed contemporary prints or (later) photos and drab reconstructions of workshop or factory scenes, along with pictures of significant inventions and technological innovations (which are, in several cases, reduced to background design elements). The single, tiny map has no identifying labels. Other new entries in the All About America series deal similarly with Explorers, Trappers, and Pioneers, A Nation of Immigrants and Stagecoaches and Railroads. Utilitarian, at best—but more likely to dim reader interest than kindle it. (index, timeline, resource lists) (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7534-6670-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
It’s an often-told story, but the author is still in a position to give it a unique perspective.
The author of Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America (2004) tells her father’s tale again, for younger readers.
Though using a less personal tone this time and referring to herself in the third person, Robinson still devotes as much attention to his family life, youth and post-baseball career as she does to his achievements on the field. Writing in short sentences and simple language, she presents a clear picture of the era’s racial attitudes and the pressures he faced both in the military service and in baseball—offering plenty of clear reasons to regard him not just as a champion athlete, but as a hero too. An early remark about how he ran with “a bunch of black, Japanese, and Mexican boys” while growing up in Pasadena is insensitively phrased, and a sweeping claim that by 1949 “[t]he racial tension was broken” in baseball is simplistic. Nevertheless, by and large her account covers the bases adequately. The many photos include an admixture of family snapshots, and a closing Q-and-A allows the author to announce the imminent release of a new feature film about Robinson.
It’s an often-told story, but the author is still in a position to give it a unique perspective. (Biography. 8-10)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-54006-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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