Forceful and compelling.
A retelling of a legendary princess’s life.
A proud cry from her father announces the birth of Mongolian Princess Khutulun amid a starry night. The daughter of the khan and the great-great-granddaughter of Genghis Khan, Khutulun, like her 14 older brothers, trains to become a warrior and fulfill demanding duties. A boisterous child, she shadows her mother as she skillfully leads meetings and handles advisers. Yet Khutulun finds that she prefers a warrior’s life; she loves to hunt and wrestle alongside her brothers and yearns to ride “under the infinite sky.” Deng skillfully uses white space and textured colors and lines to bring kinetic energy to the narrative, as in a scene where horses charge across the pages when Khutulun joins her father in her first battle. When Khutulun reaches marriageable age, she announces a novel stipulation—she will only marry the man who can break her undefeated wrestling record. Her proclamation is tested when a wealthy challenger appears and her family pressures her to make a pragmatic alliance. Khutulun faces her greatest battle: whether to succumb to expectations or to forge her own path. Deng combines a sharp narrative with powerful imagery to fully capture the tenacity of the warrior princess. The author’s note admits to liberties with the story and explores further details of the princess’s life. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Forceful and compelling. (glossary) (Picture-book biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-374-38838-6
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
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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