Commemorating the 400th anniversary of Jamestown’s founding, Fritz’s latest venture into America’s past sketches the career of a teenaged cabin boy who joined the beleaguered colony at the beginning of 1608. He spent enough time in Powhatan’s settlement of Werowocomoco to learn the language, became an interpreter who survived the massacres and famines, then later went on to form an alliance with the neighboring Accawmackes and to settle on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Fritz notes that so little is known of Savage’s life that her account should be regarded as fiction. But she fills in the large gaps in the story with so many verified historical details of Jamestown’s tumultuous early years that readers will come away with an accurate picture of events—and also likely shaking their heads in wonder that the colony wasn’t utterly wiped out on numerous occasions. Though Comport’s low-angle illustrations have a distractingly flat, over-painted look, and the closing bibliography is composed of adult sources and hard-to-find journal articles, the narrative here is easily vivid enough to compensate. (Fictionalized nonfiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-399-24644-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2007
The author of Cod’s Tale (2001) again demonstrates a dab hand at recasting his adult work for a younger audience. Here the topic is salt, “the only rock eaten by human beings,” and, as he engrossingly demonstrates, “the object of wars and revolutions” throughout recorded history and before. Between his opening disquisition on its chemical composition and a closing timeline, he explores salt’s sources and methods of extraction, its worldwide economic influences from prehistoric domestication of animals to Gandhi’s Salt March, its many uses as a preservative and industrial product, its culinary and even, as the source for words like “salary” and “salad,” its linguistic history. Along with lucid maps and diagrams, Schindler supplies detailed, sometimes fanciful scenes to go along, finishing with a view of young folk chowing down on orders of French fries as ghostly figures from history look on. Some of Kurlansky’s claims are exaggerated (the Erie and other canals were built to transport more than just salt, for instance), and there are no leads to further resources, but this salutary (in more ways than one) micro-history will have young readers lifting their shakers in tribute. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-399-23998-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
Finally, an astro-memoir for kids that really gets down to the nitty-gritty.
A former space shuttle pilot and International Space Station commander recalls in unusually exacting detail what it’s like to be an astronaut.
In the same vein as his more expansive adult title How To Astronaut (2020), Virts describes and reflects on his experiences with frank and photographic precision—from riding the infamous “Vomit Comet” to what astronauts wear, eat, and get paid. He also writes vividly about what Earth looks like from near orbit: the different colors of deserts, for instance, and storms that “are so powerful that the flashes from the lightning illuminate the inside of the space station.” With an eye to younger audiences with stars in their eyes, he describes space programs of the past and near future in clear, simple language and embeds pep talks about the importance of getting a good education and ignoring nay-sayers. For readers eager to start their training early, he also tucks in the occasional preparatory “Astronaut Activity,” such as taking some (unused) household item apart…and then putting it back together. Lozano supplements the small color photos of our planet from space and astronauts at work with helpful labeled images, including two types of spacesuits and a space shuttle, as well as cartoon spot art depicting diverse figures.
Finally, an astro-memoir for kids that really gets down to the nitty-gritty. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781523514564
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
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