Not many people know that Orville and Wilbur Wright had a third member of the team. Katharine, their younger sister, ran the house after their mother died and became her brothers’ social and business manager when their careers took flight. In this first authoritative biography of her life, much ground (and air) is covered. It’s the story of Kitty Hawk and flying machines and an opinionated young woman devoted to her father and brothers, who only later in life married and found personal happiness. Maurer does justice to this pivotal member of the famous family. Balancing the story of early flight with Katharine’s story, much is revealed about the role of women at the turn of the century and the restricted opportunities for education and careers. Katharine managed to receive a first-rate education at Oberlin College and became only the second woman elected to Oberlin’s board of trustees, where one of her causes was to have women faculty members paid the same as men. Though the print is undersized, the format and design are attractive, with many photographs capturing the drama of the Wrights’ lives. The text is competently written, and if the account doesn’t quite soar like Katharine’s brothers, it does clearly portray Katharine’s worldly concerns with career, marriage, and the care of her family. A bibliography is included, but without attribution of specific quotations and incidents and no sources for young readers. Nevertheless, this is an important biography of a woman who also had the Wright stuff. (author’s note, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-7613-1546-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A satisfying story of family, friendship and small-town cooperation in a 21st-century world.
Sent to stay with octogenarian relatives for the summer, 14-year-old Mike ends up coordinating a community drive to raise $40,000 for the adoption of a Romanian orphan. He’ll never be his dad's kind of engineer, but he learns he’s great at human engineering.
Mike’s math learning disability is matched by his widower father's lack of social competence; the Giant Genius can’t even reliably remember his son’s name. Like many of the folks the boy comes to know in Do Over, Penn.—his great-uncle Poppy silent in his chair, the multiply pierced-and-tattooed Gladys from the bank and “a homeless guy” who calls himself Past—Mike feels like a failure. But in spite of his own lack of confidence, he provides the kick start they need to cope with their losses and contribute to the campaign. Using the Internet (especially YouTube), Mike makes use of town talents and his own webpage design skills and entrepreneurial imagination. Math-definition chapter headings (Compatible Numbers, Zero Property, Tessellations) turn out to apply well to human actions in this well-paced, first-person narrative. Erskine described Asperger’s syndrome from the inside in Mockingbird (2010). Here, it’s a likely cause for the rift between father and son touchingly mended at the novel's cinematic conclusion.
A satisfying story of family, friendship and small-town cooperation in a 21st-century world. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: June 9, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25505-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Can too much information give readers intellectual indigestion? When is it better to graze through a book rather than consuming it in one sitting? Is it possible to make good-for-you information as delicious as (guilty) pleasure reading? The adapted version of Hungry Planet: What the World Eats (2005) raises all of these questions. Intended to inform middle-schoolers of the wide variety of food traditions as well as discrepancies in access to adequate nutrition, this collection of photos, essays and statistics will require thoughtful concentration. Adapted and abridged text, a larger font size, the addition of small maps and basic facts about each country and the deletion of some photos that might have been judged inappropriate or disturbing help to make the wealth of information accessible to this audience. The plentiful photos are fascinating, offering both intimate glimpses of family life and panoramic views of other lands. Whether used for research or received as a gift from socially conscious adults, this version offers children plenty to chew over—but it’ll take them some time to truly digest. (Nonfiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-58246-246-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2008
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