Stories of important Puerto Rican women, told vividly.
Remarkable sisters changed life for the better in the Bronx.
Evelina Antonetty, Lillian López, and Elba Cabrera emigrated from Puerto Rico to New York in the 1930s. They worked hard to improve their communities and pushed back against discrimination. As a teen, Evelina, who spoke English and Spanish, used her bilingual abilities to support and advocate for her community. In 1965, she created an organization to empower parents to fight for better, more equitable public schools in the Bronx. Along with Elba, she advocated for bilingual education and school meals. Later, the sisters helped found Hostos Community College. Middle sister Lillian became the first Puerto Rican administrator in charge of all Bronx libraries. She fought to fund libraries in Black, brown, and poor communities when they faced budget cuts that their white counterparts did not face. The work of the Tres Hermanas reverberated during their lifetimes and beyond. Upbeat verse, punctuated by the phrase “you best believe,” drives home these siblings’ accomplishments. The art, a vibrant tapestry of jewel-tone colors that leap off the pages, creates a visual feast for young readers. Dynamic and expressive, the illustrations captivate the imagination and beautifully bring to life the warmth of the sisters’ inspiring bond.
Stories of important Puerto Rican women, told vividly. (author’s note, source notes, glossary, timeline, bibliography, further reading, photographs) (Picture-book biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728460444
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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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