A gorgeous and personal tribute to Mandela’s legacy.
Zindzi Mandela tells her curious grandchildren Zazi and Ziwelene the story of their great-grandfather Nelson Mandela.
When Nelson Mandela’s great-grandchildren Zazi and Ziwelene find a photo of their great-grandfather, that sparks an honest discussion about apartheid and race relations in South Africa. Answering her grandchildren’s questions, Zindzi Mandela shares her experience as a child of apartheid, what her mother’s and father’s lives were like and how dedicated Mandela was to his people; “Grandad was fighting for us all to be equal.” In clear and emotional language, the authors discuss the history of apartheid and Mandela’s fight to end it, even while locked away in prison. One of the story’s central messages is the importance of living a life of service, as did Mandela, “a man who was able to forgive all the people who made him and his family and his people suffer.” Qualls’ pencil, collage, and acrylic illustrations are evocative; powerful spreads depict police brutality, incarceration, protest, segregation, and hope. Qualls showcases his command of color, emotion, and style on every page. Readers might come away from this informational book wanting better documentation of historical facts; there is no authors’ note or other backmatter. Nevertheless, this is a beautiful and inspiring reflection on Nelson Mandela’s life and his impact on the world.
A gorgeous and personal tribute to Mandela’s legacy. (Picture book/biography. 6-12)Pub Date: June 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78603-136-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
A variety show brimming with esoteric and practical information.
Two youngsters embark on a journey peppered with history, trivia, and skits while teaching money lessons.
Meet Mellody and John, the young stars of this currency showcase. Their very first dialogue offers a taste of the intriguing information to come, from the ancient Mayans’ use of cacao beans as payment to the origins of the piggy bank. The book offers a chronologically and geographically broad timeline of the history of money, encompassing the past 3.9 billion years (starting with meteorite crashes that scattered metals—“the very first bank deposit”) and referencing practices across five continents. Readers will find themselves eagerly sharing the facts gleaned here, including the centuries-old origins of terms and expressions still used today. Mellody and John’s fun banter crucially reflects their experiences with money, such as their families’ differing attitudes toward allowances. Both are savers as well as givers, sharing stories about giving to charity. In one especially entertaining section, a cat and a bunny converse in money-related catchphrases that are separately defined at the bottom of each page. Stevens’ watercolors are appropriately realistic and appealing, whether depicting Mellody’s pretend bank or Elizabeth II’s butler ironing a 10-pound note. Messages about money’s use as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself, ensure that readers will think about their own purposes for their savings. Mellody and John are Black.
A variety show brimming with esoteric and practical information. (index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781536224719
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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