Inspirational if a little airbrushed.
Who says you need to be a grown-up to help make a change in the world? There are kids around the world making a difference, right now!
Paul profiles children notable for their bravery, leadership, intelligence, commitment to creatively solving problems, and willingness to speak to matters facing the world—especially on behalf of other children. Readers will be inspired by the blend of familiar kid activists such as Jazz Jennings, Greta Thunberg, and Malala Yousafzai with lesser-known young people like scientist Angela Zhang and community worker Jonas Corona. Also included is a two-page spread featuring 18 young people who are committed to helping animals. The profiles are short and conveyed in free-verse odes paired with prose paragraphs of facts, together briefly outlining the young person’s challenge and resolution on a full-bleed, double-page spread. Jackson’s dreamy, doe-eyed illustrations embody the optimism and hope of each profiled youngster but also often fail to convey their ferocity. Greta Thunberg sits next to a sunflower looking into the middle distance rather than facing down the U.N. General Assembly, for instance. The backmatter includes a section headed “You Can Speak Up Too! Actions Make a Difference” that answers questions about ways young people can lend their voices and efforts to help others. There’s also an author’s note, glossary, and bibliography with quote sources. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Inspirational if a little airbrushed. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-13732-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
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
PERSPECTIVES
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