Review of Two Friends, by Dean Robbins

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review 0

two_friends_largeTwo Friends

Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass

by Dean Robbins
illustrated by Sean Qualls & Selina Alko

Orchard Books (Scholastic), New York, 2016. 32 pages.

Here’s a simple picture book telling a story from history about Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. The two were friends and both lived in Rochester, New York. There’s a statue there showing the two of them having tea. This picture book dramatizes one such occasion, mostly using it as an opportunity to talk about both of their lives and how similar they were.

The language is easy for children to understand:

As a girl, Susan wanted to learn what boys learned.
But teachers wouldn’t let her. . . .

Susan wanted something more.
She read about rights in the United States.
The right to live free.
The right to vote.
Some people had rights, while others had none.
Why shouldn’t she have them, too?

Susan taught herself to give speeches.
Some people liked her ideas about rights for women.
Others didn’t.

The similar language used about Frederick Douglass highlights their similarities.

Frederick grew up as a slave in the South.
Slaves had to do everything the master said, but Frederick wanted something more.
He secretly learned to read and write.
New ideas thrilled him.

Frederick read about rights in the United States.
The right to live free.
The right to vote.
Some people had rights, while others had none.
Why shouldn’t he have them, too?

Frederick escaped from his master and headed north.
He taught himself to give speeches.
Some people liked his ideas about rights for African Americans.
Others didn’t.

Beyond this, there’s basic information about how the two supported each other and were friends. And the pictures are marvelous.

A lovely introduction to the topic of equal rights for young readers.

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selinaalko.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of This Bridge Will Not Be Gray, by Dave Eggers and Tucker Nichols

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

this_bridge_will_not_be_gray_largeThis Bridge Will Not Be Gray

story by Dave Eggers
art by Tucker Nichols

McSweeney’s, San Francisco, 2015. 104 pages.
Starred Review

This Bridge Will Not Be Gray is a picture book about the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a long picture book, but otherwise fits picture book format. Every spread has a cut-paper pictorial background, and no spread has more than a few paragraphs of text, if that.

This isn’t the fancy, realistic-looking cut paper of Steve Jenkins. This is simple, with basic shapes. People are shown as heads of various colors (such as blue and green and red). But the simple style does work. Dave Eggers takes us through the design process of the Golden Gate bridge, beginning with the beautiful bay itself.

It is interesting to me that the reason the Golden Gate Bridge ended up reddish-orange in the first place was that was the color they painted onto steel when it was shipped to make it rust-proof.

They hadn’t actually decided what color to paint the bridge, but plans were to paint it gray.

When Irving Morrow was on the ferry one day, he watched this orange steel being assembled, and he had a thought. He thought that this color was beautiful.

And when Irving was asked what color he thought the bridge should be, he said, Why not leave it this color? And people said, What? And they said, Huh? And they said, Irving, you are nuts. No bridge had ever been orange. Who had ever heard of an orange bridge? No one had, because no bridge had ever been this color. This is true: no bridge in known human history had ever been orange.

And for a good portion of the human race, because something has not already been, that is a good reason to fear it coming to be.

But as the debate continued about the color of the bridge, an interesting thing happened. Other people noticed the same thing Irving had noticed: that this accidental orange somehow looked right.

That gives you an idea of the conversational style of the book. The simple graphics accompany it and add up to a lovely and informative story of how one of the most beautiful bridges in the world was built.

The Golden Gate Bridge, which is orange, is the best-known and best-loved bridge in the world.

It is best-known because it is bold and courageous and unusual and even strange. It is best-loved because it is bold and courageous and unusual and even strange. And it is all these things because Irving Morrow, and thousands of others said:

“This bridge will not be gray!”

It is especially fitting that the author, the illustrator, and the publisher live and work near the Golden Gate Bridge.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Finding Winnie, by Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall

Award Winners, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

finding_winnie_largeFinding Winnie

The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear

by Lindsay Mattick
illustrated by Sophie Blackall

Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2015. 52 pages.
Starred Review
2016 Caldecott Medal

I didn’t think I’d review a second book about the true story of the real bear after whom Winnie-the-Pooh was named. The first one I read was complete and most delightful.

But then I read Finding Winnie and fell in love. In the first place, it’s got Sophie Blackall’s wonderful illustrations, which won me over quickly. But as well, the story is told with the frame of a mother telling the story to her son – and that son happens to be Cole, the great-great-grandson of Harry Colebourn, who bought the bear Winnie in Winnipeg on the way to World War I.

Besides giving all the facts, there’s a lilt to the storytelling and interruptions along the way by Cole, which are reminiscent of Christopher Robin’s words at the start of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Here’s where Harry sees the bear cub at a train station:

Harry thought for a long time. Then he said to himself, “There is something special about that Bear.” He felt inside his pocket and said, “I shouldn’t.” He paced back and forth and said, “I can’t.” Then his heart made up his mind, and he walked up to the trapper and said, “I’ll give you twenty dollars for the bear.”

“Is twenty dollars a lot?” asked Cole.
“Back then?” I said. “Even more than a lot.”

The photograph album at the back is especially charming. I like the picture of Harry’s diary turned to the page for August 24, 1914, where it says, “Bought bear $20.”

Of course, after Harry’s story, we hear about Christopher Robin Milne and his friendship with Winnie. But then Cole brings it back to Harry, and his mother tells him that Harry had a son named Fred, and Fred had a daughter named Laureen, and Laureen had a daughter named Lindsay.

Framing it all as a story of a mother to her child is what sends it over the edge into wonderful.

And then I had a son.

When I saw you, I thought, “There is something special about that Boy.” So I named you after your great-great-grandfather: Captain Harry Colebourn.

I named you Cole.

“That’s me?” said Cole in a whisper.

“That’s you.”

“And that’s Winnie?”

“Yes,” I said. “That’s Winnie.”

“And it’s all true?”

“Sometimes the best stories are,” I said.

Sometimes they are.

lindsaymattick.com
sophieblackall.com
lb-kids.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

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Review of The Boys Who Challenged Hitler, by Phillip Hoose

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review, True Stories 0

boys_who_challenged_hitler_largeThe Boys Who Challenged Hitler

Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club

by Phillip Hoose

Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 2015. 198 pages.
Starred Review

This year because of schedule conflicts, I’m not attending Capitol Choices (a local group that chooses the 100 best books of the year for children and youth), and I’d promised myself this year I’ll just read books I want to read, not books I feel I ought to read. So I thought I wouldn’t read much children’s nonfiction. This book came in, and I thought I’d just check it back in, unread. But I started dipping into it, and found I couldn’t stop.

The story is of a group of Danish teens who didn’t like that their government had handed Denmark over to Hitler. They formed their own resistance band before any other organized resistance. They went to prison for it — and their case galvanized other Danes to act.

Phillip Hoose spoke at length with Knud Pedersen in 2012, working on this book with him before he died in 2014. How wonderful that this information was captured. Much of the book gives Knud’s voice and perspective.

Here’s a summary from the author in the Introduction, which explains why this important story had to be told. He was visiting the Museum of Danish Resistance in Copenhagen.

Then I came upon a special little exhibit entitled “The Churchill Club.” With photos, letters, cartoons, and weapons such as grenades and pistols, the exhibit told the story of a few Danish teens, schoolboys from a northern city, who got the resistance started. Mortified that Danish authorities had given up to the Germans without fighting back, these boys had waged a war of their own.

Most were ninth-graders at a school in Aalborg, in the northern part of Denmark called Jutland. Between their first meeting in December 1941 and their arrest in May 1942, the Churchill Club struck more than two dozen times, racing through the streets on bicycles in well-coordinated hits. Acts of vandalism quickly escalated to arson and major destruction of German property. The boys stole and cached German rifles, grenades, pistols, and ammunition — even a machine gun. Using explosives stolen from the school chemistry lab, they scorched a German railroad car filled with airplane wings. They carried out most of their actions in broad daylight, as they all had family curfews.

This book tells the details of their story, a fascinating one about teens deciding to act for what they believed to be right, at the risk of their own lives.

The book is engagingly written, with plenty of photographs and sidebars to break up the text. It’s targeted toward people the same age as these daring young men were at the time of their resistance.

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macteenbooks.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of One Plastic Bag, by Miranda Paul and Elisabeth Zunon

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History 0

one_plastic_bag_largeOne Plastic Bag

Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of Gambia

by Miranda Paul
illustrations by Elizabeth Zunon

Millbrook Press, Minneapolis, 2015. 36 pages.

In 2012, Isatou Ceesay won a World of Difference 100 Award from the International Alliance for Women for her work establishing the Njau Recycling and income Generating Group in her village in Gambia. This picture book tells her story in a way that children can understand – but which adults will also appreciate.

The book begins with Isatou as a child when a basket breaks. When a basket breaks, people could simply drop it and it would crumble and mix back with the dirt. However, then people in the village began using plastic bags. When you drop a plastic bag on the ground, it leads to a problem with trash.

Goats began to die from eating the plastic bags. There was a bad smell. Isatou and some other women gathered up plastic bags, washed them – and made plastic thread from them. Then they used this plastic thread to crochet purses. And selling the purses made money to buy a new goat – a goat that was not confronted with plastic trash it was tempted to eat.

The note at the back tells more about Isatou Ceesay’s work. I like the way the story is told simply, with beautiful collage art, and then details are given at the end for adults. This is an inspiring story of a woman making the world a better place.

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lizzunon.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh, by Sally M. Walker and Jonathan D. Voss

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review 0

winnie_largeWinnie

The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh

by Sally M. Walker

illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss

Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2015. 36 pages.
Starred Review

It’s books like this that make me wish we had a separate children’s browsing section for Nonfiction, rather than interfiling them with adult books. This is not a book for children looking for the subject of Bears, although that is where it is filed. This is a heart-warming picture book story that happens to be true.

I knew that the name of Winnie-the-Pooh was inspired by a bear Christopher Robin visited at the London Zoo. This book tells the story of that bear.

The bear was born in Canada during World War I. A veterinarian who took care of the horses in the Canadian army saw the bear for sale when his regiment stopped at a train station. The man said he didn’t see the cub until after he’d shot her mother, so Harry Colebourn bought the bear and named her Winnipeg, after his company’s hometown.

Winnipeg, whose name was quickly shortened to Winnie, was friendly and affectionate to the whole troop, but especially to Harry. She traveled with them to training camp in Quebec and then across the Atlantic Ocean.

But when the company was sent to the fighting in France, Harry decided that Winnie would be better off in the London Zoo, which had a new exhibit for bears. Winnie adjusted so well that four years later, when the war ended, Harry decided she should be allowed to stay.

Even though this book has a back story of war, the author and illustrator have made a very readable, light-hearted tale. They show Winnie cuddling and playing with Harry and the other soldiers. I was very surprised that the London zookeepers actually let children ride on Winnie’s back and feed her condensed milk with a spoon. It’s hard to imagine any zookeepers anywhere allowing that today, but perhaps it’s a testament to how gentle Winnie was.

And it’s fitting that the bear who inspired one of the greatest books of children’s literature should now have her own story told. Fans of Winnie-the-Pooh will love hearing the back story, but this story goes beyond that and simply tells a heart-warming story of a young man and a bear who was generous with her affection.

sallymwalker.com
jonathandvoss.com
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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Mr. Ferris and His Wheel, by Kathryn Gibbs Davis

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review, True Stories 0

mr_ferris_and_his_wheel_largeMr. Ferris and His Wheel

written by Kathryn Gibbs Davis
illustrated by Gilbert Ford

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. 40 pages.
Starred Review

I love this kind of nonfiction for kids – It’s engaging and simply told, with plenty of facts, but written to be read and enjoyed, not to use as reference for a report.

This is a picture book, and the illustrations are beautiful, evoking the time of the Chicago World’s Fair, when Mr. Ferris built his wheel.

The author tells the tale as a suspenseful story, with supporting facts alongside. Here’s an example page:

Now it was America’s turn to impress the world at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. But what could outshine the famous French tower? And who would build it? A nationwide contest was announced.

Here’s the sidebar on that two-page spread, in a corner and printed in a smaller font:

Before TV and the Internet, people from around the globe gathered at World’s Fairs to share their different ways of life and new technologies. Tasty inventions such as hamburgers and Cracker Jack first appeared there!

It goes on to dramatize George Ferris getting the idea, submitting his plans, and the large technological challenges they faced. One of the pages during the construction phase shows spectators who are critical and skeptical that the thing will stay up, let alone actually work.

The author and illustrator dramatize the completion, and the very first ride, giving us a feeling of the majestic spectacle the wheel made, as well as the sweeping view of Chicago.

All summer, visitors from around the world traveled to the Chicago World’s Fair. It didn’t matter whether one was a senator, a farmer, a boy or girl. Everyone wanted to take a spin on the magnificent wheel. Adventurous couples asked to get married on it! On hot, steamy days, the wheel was the perfect place to escape up, up, up into the cooling breezes. All you needed was fifty cents.

[Sidebar:] During the nineteen weeks the wheel was in operation, 1.5 million passengers rode it. It revolved more than 10,000 times, withstood gale-force winds and storms, and did not need one repair.

Let’s hear it for a book that highlights the heroism and accomplishments of an engineer! This book tells a good story, but it will also capture kids’ imaginations. A page at the back supplies further reading and websites. Who knows? This book may inspire future engineers.

gibbsdavis.com
gilbertford.com
hmhco.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Viva Frida, by Yuyi Morales

Art, History, Picture Book Review 0

viva_frida_largeViva Frida

by Yuyi Morales
photography by Tim O’Meara

A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, 2014. 36 pages.

I didn’t expect to fall for this book, despite the glowing reviews I’d read. However, the descriptions didn’t prepare me for what this book does.

Now it’s my turn to attempt to explain this book’s genius. This book is not a biography, not even a picture book biography. It’s an inspirational, symbolic text, based on the life and work of Frida Kahlo. The Author’s Note at the back is longer than the main text of the book, which is presented one or two words on a spread, in both English and Spanish.

The photographic illustrations mostly (but not all) feature puppets of Frida Kahlo, her pets, and her husband Diego Rivera. The same puppets are not used in each spread, since Frida’s expression changes.

The story is mainly told with pictures and shows Frida finding a locked box and her monkey finding the key. Inside is a skeleton puppet, which she plays with.

The next sequence begins with “I dream.” We see Frida, now as a painted paper cutout, wearing winged boots, flying through the air, and helping a wounded deer.

As you can tell by my struggle to describe it, everything in this book is highly symbolic. The end result is beautiful and inspiring.

I also suspect that young children, who aren’t necessarily as hung up on understanding every word, will be all the more inspired by this book. In fact, I would love to talk with a group of children about what they see in the pictures. I have a feeling they would come up with many things that I have missed.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation, by Jonathan Hennessy

Children's Nonfiction Review, Graphic Novel, History, Starred Review 0

gettysburg_address_largeThe Gettysburg Address

A Graphic Adaptation

Using Lincoln’s Words to Tell the Whole Story of America’s Civil War, 1776 to the Present

written by Jonathan Hennessey
art by Aaron McConnell

William Morrow, 2013. 222 pages.
Starred Review

History in comic book form – I still say it’s an inspired idea if you want kids to pay attention.

You might wonder how anyone could put the Gettysburg Address into comic book form. Well, the subtitle explains what the author is trying to do: Not simply talk about the Gettysburg Address, but to use the Gettysburg Address to tell the whole story of America’s Civil War, 1776 to the present.

So the story goes back to the Declaration of Independence, which is referred to in the phrase “Fourscore and seven years ago.” Each section of the story is introduced by a phrase from the Gettysburg Address, with a picture of the words carved in stone on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial.

The story ends up being a sweeping one, with plenty of occasions for illustration. Even as an adult reading it, I gained a much deeper understanding of the Civil War by reading these pages. The author uses many quotations from speakers on opposites sides of the issues – and we see pictures of the people who spoke those words – far more memorable than ordinary quotes. And of course the battles have opportunity for even more “graphic” pictures.

This book is amazing in its scope and skillfully executed. It may create some young Civil War buffs. I certainly found it far more interesting than I expected it to be.

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

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Review of My Country ‘Tis of Thee, by Claire Rudolf Murphy and Bryan Collier

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review 0

my_country_tis_of_thee_largeMy Country, ‘Tis of Thee

How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights

by Claire Rudolf Murphy
illustrated by Bryan Collier

Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2014. 46 pages.

Did you know that the patriotic song “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” has been used as a protest song down through all the years America has been a country?

This picture book – with evocative artwork by Bryan Collier – traces the history of the song, with each double-page spread giving us another verse that was sung to the tune.

The song as we know it wasn’t written until 1831. But before that, the tune was sung in England and its colonies as “God Save the King.” Already the song was used in protest, as Scottish followers of Bonnie Prince Charlie made a verse for him. In the Colonies, preacher George Whitfield wrote new verses to express that all men are equal. As the Revolution got underway, new verses were written declaring freedom.

The author goes through history, presenting new verses that were sung at different time periods, nearly always supporting a cause or another. The Abolitionists had a version; the Confederacy had a version; women’s suffragists sang for their cause, and even migrant workers.

The book culminates in Martin Luther King Jr’s quoting the song in his “I have a dream” speech, and then Aretha Franklin singing at Barack Obama’s inauguration.

I had no idea this song can be and has been such a feisty one! I especially like the way the author ends the book:

Now it’s your turn. Write a new verse for a cause you believe in. Help freedom ring.

clairerudolfmurphy.com
bryancollier.com
mackids.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.