A thought-provoking account of courage and integrity in the face of discrimination.
What makes someone worthy?
Newbery Honor–winning author Wang answers that question with her biography of Joseph Pierce, a Chinese man who was forced to prove his worth over and over. Born in southern China in 1840 (his real name and exact place of birth have since been lost to history), he was sold into slavery at age 10 to an American ship captain named Amos Peck and loaded onto a vessel, along with 200 other prisoners, bound for the sugar plantations of Cuba. But after “Joe,” as he was named, proved himself useful as a cabin boy, Captain Peck brought him home to Connecticut; there, he lived with the Peck family, who renamed him Joseph Pierce. Facing racism over the years, he enlisted in the Union Army (as the only Chinese soldier in his regiment), rose to the rank of corporal, became an American citizen, married a white woman, and had three children. To remain safe as white Americans mounted attacks on Chinese residents after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, he pretended to be Japanese. The accumulation of these demeaning injustices—even after all he had accomplished—will push readers to ask a new question: Was America worthy of Joseph? Vang’s handsomely rendered acrylic paintings offer solemnly realistic depictions of Joseph’s life, while Wang’s text combines artfully crafted prose and historical quotes to juxtapose the dignity of the individual against the racism of his era.
A thought-provoking account of courage and integrity in the face of discrimination. (timeline, author’s note, bibliography, citations) (Picture-book biography. 6-12)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781646145577
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless.
Tales of a fourth grade ne’er-do-well.
It seems that young Jordan is stuck in a never-ending string of bad luck. Sure, no one’s perfect (except maybe goody-two-shoes William Feranek), but Jordan can’t seem to keep his attention focused on the task at hand. Try as he may, things always go a bit sideways, much to his educators’ chagrin. But Jordan promises himself that fourth grade will be different. As the year unfolds, it does prove to be different, but in a way Jordan couldn’t possibly have predicted. This humorous memoir perfectly captures the square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling many kids feel and effectively heightens that feeling with comic situations and a splendid villain. Jordan’s teacher, Mrs. Fisher, makes an excellent foil, and the book’s 1970s setting allows for her cruelty to go beyond anything most contemporary readers could expect. Unfortunately, the story begins to run out of steam once Mrs. Fisher exits. Recollections spiral, losing their focus and leading to a more “then this happened” and less cause-and-effect structure. The anecdotes are all amusing and Jordan is an endearing protagonist, but the book comes dangerously close to wearing out its welcome with sheer repetitiveness. Thankfully, it ends on a high note, one pleasant and hopeful enough that readers will overlook some of the shabbier qualities. Jordan is White and Jewish while there is some diversity among his classmates; Mrs. Fisher is White.
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64723-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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