A generic but celebratory introduction to a distinctive musical genre.
A salute to a Brazilian community’s spirit and music.
In the Mangueira neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, residents prepare for the annual Carnaval samba parades in the city’s huge Sambadrome by making bright costumes. The members of the competitive bateria, “the drum section and beating heart of the show,” practice their parts over and over into the night. Along with explaining the important role of local samba schools in Brazil as not just musical academies but social centers, too, Hoelzel focuses on the experiences of one musician, Ailton Nunes, who began drumming at age 5 and went on to help Mangueria’s bateria win a Carnaval award in 1990 before leaving to teach and perform; he was called back in 2011 to form and lead a new corps to another first prize. The biographical information is thin, and neither the narrative nor the pictures do much to evoke the music’s distinctive sound. Still, Ceolin does illustrate this invitation to think of samba as “a way to honor the past and dream for a better future” with scenes of smiling brasileiros with various shades of brown skin, dressed in ordinary or festive clothes, dancing enthusiastically or beating drums of diverse shapes and sizes on city streets and before huge stadium crowds. Backmatter offers more information on the music and Nunes, as well as a catalog of samba drum types.
A generic but celebratory introduction to a distinctive musical genre. (source list, glossary) (Picture-book biography. 6-8)Pub Date: July 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781534112957
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
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
PERSPECTIVES
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