This volume in the Great Lives series effectively straddles the fence between trade book and textbook with its two-column pages as well as its length and scope. The lives of 27 actors, playwrights, and other figures in theater (mostly men, mostly dead) are treated at length, with the emphasis often on the early years of those included: Anton Chekhov, Sarah Bernhardt, Amiri Baraka (he, Luis Miguel Valdez, and Jean- Louis Barrault are the only living subjects), P.T. Barnum, Sean O'Casey, and Helen Hayes represent several hundred years of theater. The choices are mystifying (skip the Greeks, for Shakespeare and Moliäre are as far back as this reaches; forget Japanese theater and other non-Western traditions), but that may be less important than what Weitzman has achieved. Readers are introduced to passionate, determined souls who each gained great recognition, though not always health, wealth, or happiness. The author places the innovation or success of the artist or showman in the context of the times and with the perspective of external influences. His style is clear and uncondescending, resulting in a browsable book that dispenses example after example of what happens when unique individuals follow their hearts. (b&w photos, further reading) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-689-80579-9
Page Count: 302
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1996
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
This profoundly moving story is all the more impressive because of its basis in fact. Although the story is fictionalized, its most harrowing aspects are true: “Today, more than two hundred million children between the ages of five and seventeen are ‘economically active’ in the world.” Iqbal Masih, a real boy, was murdered at age 13. His killers have never been found, but it’s believed that a cartel of ruthless people overseeing the carpet industry, the “Carpet Mafia,” killed him. The carpet business in Pakistan is the backdrop for the story of a young Pakistani girl in indentured servitude to a factory owner, who also “owned” the bonds of 14 children, indentured by their own families for sorely needed money. Fatima’s first-person narrative grips from the beginning and inspires with every increment of pride and resistance the defiant Iqbal instills in his fellow workers. Although he was murdered for his efforts, Iqbal’s life was not in vain; the accounts here of children who were liberated through his and activist adults’ efforts will move readers for years to come. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85445-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2003
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