An important look at Juneteenth history, made accessible for young readers.
The story of how Juneteenth came to be.
Agostini narrates the history of the holiday that marks the date when enslaved people in Texas finally learned they were free: June 19, 1865, 900 days after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and 339 years after slavery began. Juneteenth has been celebrated in some cities and regions since 1866 (then called Jubilee Day or Emancipation Day), but in 2021, President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday. Throughout this straightforward account, a contemporary Black mother, father, and young daughter observe images of these historical events unfolding: Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation, the jubilation of enslaved people receiving news of their freedom, and the disappointment of a Black family, subject to Jim Crow laws, who cannot visit a park where a White family is picnicking. This split visual narrative likely represents the parents teaching their daughter this history, but readers might find it confusing when the family eats in a park alongside families wearing historical clothing. Agostini brings readers up to the summer of 2020, connecting Juneteenth with the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter movement. Cloud uses an array of skin tones to portray the diversity among African Americans, but sometimes the cartoonish style conflicts with the seriousness of the book’s content. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An important look at Juneteenth history, made accessible for young readers. (timeline, author's note) (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7603-7514-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: becker&mayer! kids
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
An enthralling historical account.
Rentetzi tells a lesser-known but inspiring story of science and politics.
In 1958, the U.S. donated two mobile labs to the International Atomic Energy Agency to demonstrate how, in the wake of World War II, nuclear power could be used for good. The vehicles visited four continents, providing global scope to the project. From the book’s first spread, which refers to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and includes an image of a mushroom cloud), Rentetzi’s clear, concise text, translated from Dutch, explains the hope that the labs would allow scientists to make advances in agriculture, medicine, and industry. Scientists “with or without lab coats, with or without shoes” attended training sessions and applied what they’d learned to local challenges. De Decker’s precise, powerful line-and-color artwork—a mix of vignettes and full-page spreads, some recalling classic Northern European art—depicts people, landscapes, monuments, transport vehicles, local animals, and the inside of a science lab in the late 1950s. Details from the text are artistically integrated, like a world map and the painted flags that record the countries the mobile labs visited. While the tone is overall positive, Rentetzi acknowledges the complex political undercurrents of the project, noting that the U.S. government sought to make scientists around the world dependent on American technology, thus giving the U.S. an edge over the Soviet Union.
An enthralling historical account. (more information on the mobile labs) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798890632456
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
In the waning days of 1941, when prospects for victory in either Europe or the Pacific were dismal, the two leaders...
An engaging chronicle of the month that Roosevelt and Churchill spent together at the White House, forging an affectionate friendship as well as a world-changing alliance.
In the waning days of 1941, when prospects for victory in either Europe or the Pacific were dismal, the two leaders optimistically engaged in a marathon series of meetings to plan strategies that ultimately resulted in victory and transformed the world. Wood's narrative effectively captures both the desperation of the times and how much Churchill and Roosevelt genuinely enjoyed each other's company. Moser's detailed watercolor illustrations likewise capture their robust personalities. Despite balanced attention to both men, the eccentric Churchill emerges as more memorable, in both text illustration; most entertaining of the latter is of Churchill, ever-present cigar in mouth, toweling off beside the bathtub. As interesting and insightful as this story is, it may have a hard time finding an audience. Younger readers will not have the background knowledge to understand the historical context of the story, and older readers are unlikely to find the picture-book format appealing.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3383-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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