They could do it! (author’s note, timeline, sources) (Picture book. 4-7)
Cross-cultural feminist history goes down easy in this kid-friendly story.
Factual details about female factory workers in the United States and the Women’s Land Army in England merge in this fictional tale of a sunny little tractor. When readers first meet Rosie, she’s being constructed by racially diverse Rosie the Riveter–esque women in response to FDR’s Lend-Lease Act. Built with care, the tractor receives a final rose painted on her nose and then she’s shipped off to England. There, women tend the fields while the men fight in World War II. Rosie is determined to do her part, repeating, “I plow and I dig. / I dig and I plow. / No matter the job, / this is my vow.” The war ends but not her purpose—there’s a happy ending in store for the little tractor that could. Ample backmatter tells the true story behind tractors like Rosie. Children too small to appreciate Ward’s deft melding of history and storytelling will still find much to enjoy thanks to the copious mechanics, repeated rhymes, and a tractor to rival Mike Mulligan’s Mary Anne in terms of sheer on-the-job enthusiasm. Ward’s art simultaneously anthropomorphizes Rosie and gives a sense of authenticity to her human figures. More than the sum of its parts, this is a wildly successful and well-researched shaping of the picture-book form to true historical sheroes.
They could do it! (author’s note, timeline, sources) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1794-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
A historically specific setting with an eternal lesson.
A child’s special treat is given to a man in need, setting off a chain reaction of kindness.
It is a regular day on Tai Yuen Street in Hong Kong, full of “beeping, bickering, and bartering,” as a child’s parents set up their hawker stand. Suddenly, the usual bustle is interrupted by a THWUMP! as a man who has traveled “a thousand miles” by foot and boat to cross the border into Hong Kong falls to his knees. Bystanders turn away, “uninterested in hearing their own stories retold to them.” However, the protagonist’s mother hears the grumbles of the man’s stomach, and her kids watch horror-struck as she pulls out the special mooncake they were saving—the kind with the double-yolk center (“the best kind!”)—and asks the narrator to bring it to the hungry man. It takes two pages to slowly and sadly walk the treat over and only one gulp for the man to devour the entire cake. However, this single act of kindness unleashes a torrent of generosity from the nearby hawkers. Sepia and cool colors give this tale a historical feel, while delicate cartoon renderings of the bustling market street and crowds of people lighten the tone. In the backmatter, AuYeung notes that this story was based on an incident from her childhood, explains the historical significance of the refugee’s flight to Hong Kong, and shares family photos. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A historically specific setting with an eternal lesson. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64567-556-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
This reimagined telling has an engaging charm that rings true.
An imagining of an unlikely real-life episode in the life of absurdist Franz Kafka.
Theule follows the outline of the account: When Kafka meets an unhappy girl in a Berlin park in 1923 and learns her doll is lost, Kafka writes a series of letters from Soupsy, the doll, to Irma, the girl. The real letters and the girl’s identity have been lost to history; the invented letters describe a dazzling variety of adventures for Soupsy. Unfortunately, as the letters increase in excitement, Kafka’s health declines (he would die of tuberculosis in June 1924), and he must find a way to end Soupsy’s adventures in a positive way. In an author’s note, readers learn that Kafka chose to write that Soupsy was getting married. Theule instead opts to send the doll on an Antarctic expedition. Irma gets the message that she can do anything, and the final image shows her riding a camel, a copy of Metamorphosis peeking from a satchel. While kids may not care about Kafka, the short relationship between the writer and the little girl will keep their interest. Realizing that an adult can care so much about a child met in the park is empowering. The stylized illustrations, especially those set in the chilly Berlin fall, resemble woodcuts with a German expressionist look. The doll’s adventures look a little sweeter, with more red and blue added to the brown palette of the German scenes. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 23% of actual size.)
This reimagined telling has an engaging charm that rings true. (biographical note, bibliography) (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11632-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
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