A solid, immensely readable introduction to a complex man, in a complex time of history.
The 32nd president faced many challenges, including enduring and overcoming a difficult illness and helping to cure an economic sickness of the nation.
Spanning her subject’s childhood through his first term as president, Jurmain takes a close look at an indomitable Franklin D. Roosevelt. Young FDR very much admired his older cousin Ted (who just happened to be president). At one point, Franklin grew a distinctive Ted-like mustache and profusely used the term “DEE-lighted.” But he also worked very hard to climb the political ladder. Suddenly, his privileged life took a turn when his legs became paralyzed from polio. Jurmain describes the fierce determination of a man who believed, “Above all, TRY SOMETHING.” Despite disability—perhaps spurred on by such hardship—he became governor of New York, and soon thereafter, when the country itself became paralyzed from the Great Depression, he became president. Feisty text sprinkled with amusing anecdotes enlivens this tale of serious events. Day meets Jurmain with lively pencil, watercolor, and gouache illustrations that take advantage of opportunities for lightness (a picture of Franklin in the bath will give readers cause to snicker) while sounding appropriately somber notes when called for.
A solid, immensely readable introduction to a complex man, in a complex time of history. (bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3800-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Utterly compelling.
The authors of Fatty Legs (2010) distill that moving memoir of an Inuit child’s residential school experience into an even more powerful picture book.
“Brave, clever, and as unyielding” as the sharpening stone for which she’s named, Olemaun convinces her father to send her from their far-north village to the “outsiders’ school.” There, the 8-year-old receives particularly vicious treatment from one of the nuns, who cuts her hair, assigns her endless chores, locks her in a dark basement and gives her ugly red socks that make her the object of other children’s taunts. In her first-person narration, she compares the nun to the Queen in Alice in Wonderland, a story she has heard from her sister and longs to read for herself, subtly reminding readers of the power of literature to help face real life. Grimard portrays this black-cloaked nun with a scowl and a hooked nose, the image of a witch. Her paintings stretch across the gutter and sometimes fill the spreads. Varying perspectives and angles, she brings readers into this unfamiliar world. Opening with a spread showing the child’s home in a vast, frozen landscape, she proceeds to hone in on the painful school details. A final spread shows the triumphant child and her book: “[N]ow I could read.”
Utterly compelling. (Picture book/memoir. 5-9)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-55451-490-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
A beautifully designed book that will resonate with children and the adults who wisely share it with them.
An inspirational ode to the life of the great South African leader by an award-winning author and illustrator.
Mandela’s has been a monumental life, a fact made clear on the front cover, which features an imposing, full-page portrait. The title is on the rear cover. His family gave him the Xhosa name Rolihlahla, but his schoolteacher called him Nelson. Later, he was sent to study with village elders who told him stories about his beautiful and fertile land, which was conquered by European settlers with more powerful weapons. Then came apartheid, and his protests, rallies and legal work for the cause of racial equality led to nearly 30 years of imprisonment followed at last by freedom for Mandela and for all South Africans. “The ancestors, / The people, / The world, / Celebrated.” Nelson’s writing is spare, poetic, and grounded in empathy and admiration. His oil paintings on birch plywood are muscular and powerful. Dramatic moments are captured in shifting perspectives; a whites-only beach is seen through a wide-angle lens, while faces behind bars and faces beaming in final victory are masterfully portrayed in close-up.
A beautifully designed book that will resonate with children and the adults who wisely share it with them. (author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-178374-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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