Works for young readers on contemporary non-Western artists are rare, and this visually striking and clearly written, if...
Avant-garde Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, known particularly for her innovative use of mirrors and dots, is the subject of this picture-book biography that effectively captures the essence of her work.
Born in 1929 and raised in a traditional setting, the young Kusama chafed against the restrictions placed upon her, fleeing to New York City in her 20s. After struggling in poverty and obscurity, she eventually achieved worldwide fame, continuing to produce new work and draw crowds to this day. The illustrations evoke Kusama’s style remarkably well, and the book is enhanced by high-quality photographs of a variety of her pieces. A brief endnote provides additional background information. Unfortunately the text never refers to her lifelong struggle with mental illness, although an early spread shows her as a child drawing in a field, dwarfed by vivid, surreal flowers and pumpkins, a visual reference to the hallucinations that compelled her to create. In not mentioning the relief Kusama has found through art and her voluntary residence in a Japanese mental hospital, the book does nothing to help destigmatize mental health issues.
Works for young readers on contemporary non-Western artists are rare, and this visually striking and clearly written, if limited, contribution makes a complex artist’s work accessible and appealing. (Picture book/biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63345-039-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes.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
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
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