Other drummer-boy accounts exist; this one is a cannon-shot shy of making its mark.
The author’s note at the beginning sets the time and circumstance: April 21, 1861, when the first shots of the War Between the States were fired.
This fictionalized account of a young drummer boy is told in brief four-line stanzas. “With his hopes high, / Lincoln leads. / Can’t prevent it— / South secedes. / … / Army calling, / ‘We need YOU!’ / Johnny joining, / Drumsticks, new.” The watercolor-and-gouache illustrations provide visual context and depict historical details cited in the author’s note. For instance, a soldier floating above the landscape in a gas-filled observation balloon would signal the drummer boy to relay his orders to the troops with his drum. While the text’s catchy rhythm and rhyme would seemingly lend itself to a young audience, it does not pull punches with the subject. “Soldiers shooting. / Rifles aimed. / Bullets buzzing, / Bodies maimed. / ... / Cannons blasting, / Smoke-filled sky. / Fierce-fought battle, / Soldiers die.” The clipped verse relies on readers’ having some familiarity with the Civil War. Plus, the boy’s voice becomes clouded by the poetry, further hampering the book's ability to connect with readers. While the verse form seems to aim the book at preschoolers and early-elementary children, its subject and need for prior knowledge demand older readers, who will likely reject the format.
Other drummer-boy accounts exist; this one is a cannon-shot shy of making its mark. (Picture book. 8-11)Pub Date: May 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-399-23992-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and...
This third entry in the Birchbark House series takes Omakayas and her family west from their home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, away from land the U.S. government has claimed.
Difficulties abound; the unknown landscape is fraught with danger, and they are nearing hostile Bwaanag territory. Omakayas’s family is not only close, but growing: The travelers adopt two young chimookoman (white) orphans along the way. When treachery leaves them starving and alone in a northern Minnesota winter, it will take all of their abilities and love to survive. The heartwarming account of Omakayas’s year of travel explores her changing family relationships and culminates in her first moon, the onset of puberty. It would be understandable if this darkest-yet entry in Erdrich’s response to the Little House books were touched by bitterness, yet this gladdening story details Omakayas’s coming-of-age with appealing optimism.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-06-029787-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that...
Antics both instructive and embarrassing ensue after a mysterious package left on their doorstep brings a Founding Father into the lives of two modern children.
Summoned somehow by what looks for all the world like an old-time crystal radio set, Ben Franklin turns out to be an amiable sort. He is immediately taken in hand by 7-year-old Olive for a tour of modern wonders—early versions of which many, from electrical appliances in the kitchen to the Illinois town’s public library and fire department, he justly lays claim to inventing. Meanwhile big brother Nolan, 10, tags along, frantic to return him to his own era before either their divorced mom or snoopy classmate Tommy Tuttle sees him. Fleming, author of Ben Franklin’s Almanac (2003) (and also, not uncoincidentally considering the final scene of this outing, Our Eleanor, 2005), mixes history with humor as the great man dispenses aphorisms and reminiscences through diverse misadventures, all of which end well, before vanishing at last. Following a closing, sequel-cueing kicker (see above) she then separates facts from fancies in closing notes, with print and online leads to more of the former. To go with spot illustrations of the evidently all-white cast throughout the narrative, Fearing incorporates change-of-pace sets of sequential panels for Franklin’s biographical and scientific anecdotes. Final illustrations not seen.
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that adds flavor without weight. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93406-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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