{"id":37327,"date":"2020-05-30T19:54:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T23:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37327"},"modified":"2020-05-30T19:54:29","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T23:54:29","slug":"review-of-lights-camera-alice-by-mara-rockliff-illustrated-by-simona-ciraolo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=37327","title":{"rendered":"Review of Lights! Camera! Alice! by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Simona Ciraolo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Lights! Camera! Alice!<\/p>\n

The Thrilling True Adventures of the First Woman Filmmaker<\/em><\/p>\n

by Mara Rockliff
\nillustrated by Simona Ciraolo<\/p>\n

Chronicle Books, 2018. 56 pages.
\nStarred Review
\n2018 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>:
\n#4 Children’s Nonfiction Picture Books<\/p>\n

Who knew? One of the first people to create movies was a woman! This is from the note at the back:<\/p>\n

Alice Guy-Blach\u00e9 (1875-1968) was the first woman in the world to make movies \u2013 and one of the very first moviemakers, period. Long before Hollywood turned from silent films to \u201ctalkies,\u201d Alice directed the first sound films ever made. She was also one of the first to film made-up stories instead of real events. (Some historians say she was the<\/em> first, while others credit the Lumi\u00e8re brothers or Georges M\u00e9li\u00e8s.) Between 1896 and 1920, Alice made over seven hundred movies, and her studio, Solax, produced hundreds more. She truly earned the title \u201cMother of the Movies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This picture book biography dramatizes Alice\u2019s life without enormous amount of text and plenty of visuals. She grew up in France and got her start there, but came to America and made movies outside New York City. But the rise of Hollywood and the start of World War I meant her studio went out of business.<\/p>\n

Each \u201cepisode\u201d of her life has a \u201ctitle card\u201d like the old-fashioned title cards used in silent movies, and it turns out that each one is the title of a movie Alice made, with titles like \u201cA Terrible Catastrophe,\u201d \u201cThe Great Discovery,\u201d \u201cStarting Something,\u201d \u201cImagination,\u201d and \u201cHer Great Adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s lots of back matter, and I took the time to look up one of Alice\u2019s short films on YouTube. I was quite taken with this amazing woman I\u2019d never heard of before \u2013 who changed the world.<\/p>\n

mararockliff.com<\/a>
\nchroniclekids.com<\/a> <\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/lights_camera_alice.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but 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.<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a>