Forty stories of Christian saints from the first millennium are illustrated with appropriately gorgeous, pencil-and-oils-on-paper art. Sanderson’s (Cinderella, 2002, etc.) writing style, usually graceful, suffers a bit from the format—each saint gets one page, with illustration, so sometimes the biographies, meant to be brief, seem oddly truncated. There are no sources given, either, so the lives of these splendid and colorful characters read almost like folktales. Each image is set in a frame (the frames repeat) that sometimes evokes stained glass, or manuscript illumination, or sculpture. The saints are usually in repose, full- or half-figure, often pictured with their attributes. The twin saints, Benedict and Scholastica; the mother-and-son dyads of Augustine and Monica, Constantine and Helen; and the married saints Maud and Theodora balance the many virgin/martyrs like Catherine, Stephen, Barbara, and Dorothy. Sanderson doesn’t always say how the martyrs died (a point young people are always interested in) but she usually notes what each is patron saint of. She includes both Eastern Orthodox and Western Roman Catholic saints in her litany. Young people might be particularly drawn to Catherine, pictured with both a book and a sword, and portrayed almost as a princess on the striking cover. (index) (Collective biography. 9-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-8028-5220-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2003
A tighter focus would make this fascinating life story even more intriguing.
In this graphic memoir by sports journalist Shah, a ninth grader pursues his passion in the face of familial expectations pushing him toward a medical career, while also navigating the perils of high school social life.
It’s 1995, and Indian American Amar is desperate to meet the Chicago Bulls—Michael Jordan, in particular—when they stop by his Orlando, Florida, school. A lucky break leads him to his first sports interview, with Phil Jackson, and his tenacity takes him further, leading to multiple conversations with Shaquille O’Neal. But Amar’s luck in journalism doesn’t spill over to his relationship with his crush, blond Kasey Page (“like a mixture of Cameron Diaz, Tinkerbell, and heaven”), or his efforts to remain close with best friends Rohit and Cherian, who start spending more time with other classmates. The work relies on captions as much as plot developments to propel the story. It also follows a broad cast of characters—close and former friends, antagonists, supportive adults, and famous athletes—who appear in multiple storylines. The story accurately depicts the complexities of life as a young teen, though overlapping life challenges pull it in multiple directions, leaving some threads underexplored and hastily wrapped up. Doucet illustrates the characters using loose, disjointed outlines that give the artwork a sense of movement, and the colorful backgrounds use patterns and action lines to indicate a wide array of emotions.
A tighter focus would make this fascinating life story even more intriguing. (author’s note, photographs) (Graphic memoir. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9781546110514
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anchored by massive resource lists for adults in tiny type at the back, these 12 thumbnails attempt, not very successfully, to introduce to young or inexpert readers the idea of “multiple intelligences.” After suggesting that “smart” can mean more than scholastic excellence, the author proceeds to prove the opposite with a cast of professionals that mixes such non-household names as physicist/geologist Luis Alvarez, astronomer Annie Jump Cannon and botanist Ynés Mexía with the more familiar likes of Thurgood Marshall, Georgia O’Keeffe and I.M. Pei. Opposite stylized, expressionistic but still recognizable portraits from Qualls, he introduces each with roughly hewn, rap-style verses, followed by a single-paragraph career sketch. Though at the beginning he lists eight intelligences, such as “Body Smart,” “Logic Smart” and even “Nature Smart,” Nikola-Lisa never directly links any of them to his subjects; instead, he instructs readers to figure it out for themselves—without providing more than scattered, vague clues. It’s a worthy concept for creative types and other misfits to absorb, but the author doesn’t seem to understand it very well himself. (Collective biography. 9-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-58430-254-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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