A compelling introduction to Hank Greenberg for a new generation of baseball fans.
An informative look at a Jewish sports legend.
Krensky follows Hank Greenberg’s baseball career from his early days to his stardom with the Detroit Tigers during the 1930s and 1940s. The author focuses particularly on Greenberg’s Jewish heritage and the antisemitism he confronted from both fans and fellow players. This story hinges on a famous episode in Greenberg’s career, when the American League pennant race coincided with the Jewish High Holy Days. After consulting a rabbi, Greenberg decided to play baseball on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, but to sit out Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, and attend services at his synagogue instead. The Tigers lost the game that day, but Greenberg’s legacy lives on. Bold, stylized illustrations will grab readers’ attention. Swirls of color convey movement as Greenberg slides through the dirt and hits home runs; white zigzags punctuate the “boos” he endures from bigoted audiences as he steps onto the field. Though the book doesn’t delve too deeply into Greenberg’s story, it gives just enough details to whet the appetite for more; both his commitment to his faith and his passion for the game come through clearly. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A compelling introduction to Hank Greenberg for a new generation of baseball fans. (biographical note) (Picture-book biography. 5-8)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 9781681155999
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Apples & Honey Press
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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
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