Readers meet the brave journalist and activist who wasn’t afraid to use her voice to fight for herself or others.
In this fictional graphic memoir, Williams chronicles Wells’ birth, childhood experiences, early adulthood in Memphis, and subsequent life in Chicago, allowing her subject to speak in the first person. In Memphis, Wells is forced from a train after refusing to leave the first-class seat that she paid for, three of her friends are lynched for owning a successful grocery store, and the office of her newspaper is bombed. After her departure from Memphis, Wells’ story focuses on her activism for both civil rights and women’s rights, forthrightly (if briefly) addressing resistance she met from White suffragists and Black leaders. Wells’ narration carries readers to her death in 1931. From there, her great-granddaughter (and author) Michelle Duster takes over the narrative. The switch in perspective is odd but not wholly confusing due to Harris’ clear stylings in the comics panels. The book lacks historical notes or bibliography, so engaged readers will need to seek more information about the subject on their own. The illustrations, while not particularly dynamic, use mostly warm, muted shades as they depict their subject against varying backdrops; they add much to the reading without detracting from the text. Series companion Dolly Parton, by Emily Skwish and illustrated by Lydia Fernández Abril, publishes simultaneously.
A sweeping and inspiring young readers’ introduction to Ida B. Wells. (Graphic biography. 6-9)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5037-6008-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Sunbird Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Did you like this book?
The iconic animator introduces young readers to each “happy place” in his life.
The tally begins with his childhood home in Marceline, Missouri, and climaxes with Disneyland (carefully designed to be “the happiest place on Earth”), but the account really centers on finding his true happy place, not on a map but in drawing. In sketching out his early flubs and later rocket to the top, the fictive narrator gives Ub Iwerks and other Disney studio workers a nod (leaving his labor disputes with them unmentioned) and squeezes in quick references to his animated films, from Steamboat Willie to Winnie the Pooh (sans Fantasia and Song of the South). Eliopoulos incorporates stills from the films into his cartoon illustrations and, characteristically for this series, depicts Disney as a caricature, trademark mustache in place on outsized head even in childhood years and child sized even as an adult. Human figures default to white, with occasional people of color in crowd scenes and (ahistorically) in the animation studio. One unidentified animator builds up the role-modeling with an observation that Walt and Mickey were really the same (“Both fearless; both resourceful”). An assertion toward the end—“So when do you stop being a child? When you stop dreaming”—muddles the overall follow-your-bliss message. A timeline to the EPCOT Center’s 1982 opening offers photos of the man with select associates, rodent and otherwise. An additional series entry, I Am Marie Curie, publishes simultaneously, featuring a gowned, toddler-sized version of the groundbreaking physicist accepting her two Nobel prizes.
Blandly laudatory. (bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2875-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
Did you like this book?
Contemporary and historical female artists are showcased for younger readers.
The artists’ names aren’t presented in A-to-Z order. The alphabetical arrangement actually identifies signature motifs (“D is for Dots” for Yayoi Kusama); preferred media (“I is for Ink” for Elizabeth Catlett); or cultural, natural, or personal motives underlying artworks (“N is for Nature” for Maya Lin). Various media are covered, such as painting, box assemblage, collage, photography, pottery, and sculpture. One artist named isn’t an individual but rather the Gee’s Bend Collective, “generations of African American women in Gee’s Bend, Alabama,” renowned for quilting artistry. Each artist and her or their work is introduced on a double-page spread that features succinct descriptions conveying much admiring, easily comprehensible information. Colorful illustrations include graphically simplified representations of the women at work or alongside examples of their art; the spreads provide ample space for readers to understand what the artists produced. Several women were alive when this volume was written; some died in the recent past or last century; two worked several hundred years ago, when female artists were rare. Commendably, the profiled artists are very diverse: African American, Latina, Native American, Asian, white, and multiethnic women are represented; this diversity is reflected in their work, as explained via texts and illustrations.
A solid introduction to fascinating artists, some familiar, others less so. (minibiographies, discussion questions, art suggestions) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-10872-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Did you like this book?
© Copyright 2022 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
