Numbers and pictures tell a tragic tale even if the writing never quite catches fire.
A poignant account of the 1909 Cherry, Illinois, coal mine disaster, one of the worst in U.S. history.
Walker cites Karen Tintori’s 2002 adult nonfiction title, Trapped: The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster, as a major source of inspiration, but in recounting the tragedy’s course for young readers, she piles on names and numbers without capturing that book’s dramatic storytelling or its sharp sense of outrage at the unsafe practices and conditions that led to 259 deaths. She also seldom connects her narrative to the many affecting period photos she has gathered, nor even mentions who took them, so although they are labeled, the portraits of victims and their families, along with scenes of the town of Cherry and of anxious crowds clustered around the mine’s entrance waiting for news, seem oddly disconnected from the actual people and events. She does offer meticulously detailed descriptions of how coal was mined at that time, how the accidental fire started and spread, how the trapped miners struggled, and the protracted, often disorganized rescue efforts. She also develops significant overall themes—that there was much national and ethnic, if not racial, diversity in the devastated community (most of the dead were European immigrants; only 11 were U.S.–born) and that both during and after the tragedy there was a great outpouring of volunteer and charitable assistance.
Numbers and pictures tell a tragic tale even if the writing never quite catches fire. (author’s note, source notes, bibliography, image credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1240-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality.
An examination of the history of Chinese American experiences.
Blackburn opens with a note to readers about growing up feeling invisible as a multicultural, biracial Chinese American. She notes the tremendous diversity of Chinese American history and writes that this book is a starting point for learning more. The evenly paced narrative starts with the earliest recorded arrival of the Chinese in America in 1834. A teenage girl, whose real name is unknown, arrived in New York Harbor with the Carnes brothers, merchants who imported Chinese goods and put her on display “like an animal in a circus.” The author then examines shifting laws, U.S. and global political and economic climates, and changing societal attitudes. The book introduces the highlighted people—including Yee Ah Tye, Wong Kim Ark, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Vincent Chen—in relation to lawsuits or other transformative events; they also stand as examples for explaining concepts such as racial hierarchy and the model minority myth. Maps, photos, and documents are interspersed throughout. Chapters close with questions that encourage readers to think critically about systems of oppression, actively engage with the material, and draw connections to their own lives. Although the book covers a wide span of history, from the Gold Rush to the rise in anti-Asian hate during the Covid-19 pandemic, it thoroughly explains the various events. Blackburn doesn’t shy away from describing terrible setbacks, but she balances them with examples of solidarity and progress.
Deftly written and informative; a call for vigilance and equality. (resources, bibliography, image credits) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567630
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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