A solid introduction to a Cuban ballet legend that will inspire readers to learn more.
Many readers are familiar with Misty Copeland, but how many know about Alicia Alonso?
Viña begins this appealing biography in 1929 in Havana, Cuba. Excited to learn ballet, Alonso trains daily in “the only pair [of pointe shoes] available in the whole country.” She is a girl with a dream to practice an art that does yet exist fully in her homeland. In 1937 she leaves for New York City, in spite of her father’s disapproval, to train, with limited English, at the American Ballet Theatre. There she faces unimpressed teachers but nonetheless receives praise for her technique. When faltering vision causes her to pause training to undergo multiple surgeries to save her eyesight, she eventually ends up on bed rest for a year after a final operation. Alonso relies on her imagination and memory to keep dancing—a remarkable example of her determination. Viña chronicles Alonso’s recovery and eventual stardom as a principal ballerina in Giselle, Swan Lake, and Don Quixote in spite of living with low-vision disabilities, concluding with Alonso’s return to Cuba in 1958, which marks the founding of Ballet Nacional de Cuba. With Spanish words infused so that they flow naturally throughout, Viña adds an authentic cultural layer to an inspiring artist’s career. Félix’s illustrations, while straightforward and simple, add colorful richness that brings Viña’s engaging storytelling to life.
A solid introduction to a Cuban ballet legend that will inspire readers to learn more. (author’s note, resources) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1454-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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