No dissent here—this is a solid introduction to a beloved feminist icon.
A child-friendly retrospective of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life and legacy.
While a life as meaningful as Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s cannot possibly fit in a board book, this admirably distills her story and achievements into the most accessible form possible. Yes, the text is lengthy for the format, and conceptually, some topics are above the comprehension of the targeted audience, but the message that defined Ginsburg’s career, that a girl is “just as important as a boy,” shines clear. Starting with Ruth’s origins as a young Jewish girl, the text follows her as she becomes a lawyer and parent, discusses a smattering of her glass-ceiling–shattering jobs and legal rulings, before ending with her on the Supreme Court. Though the unvarnished language reads like early-reader text, the austere words convey a certain poignancy. The companion text on Martin Luther King Jr. is warm and welcoming but too often relies on generic statements about his “big, strong heart” while his civil right accomplishments remain implied rather than clearly stated. In a nod to the intended listeners, Dr. King’s assassination goes unmentioned. In each, a concluding biographical paragraph with a photograph is largely rehash. The flat, angular, caricature-style art is stylish but borders on lifeless. The cast in the Ginsburg book defaults to mostly White characters while, unsurprisingly, that of the King title defaults African American.
No dissent here—this is a solid introduction to a beloved feminist icon. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22274-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this historic roll call is impressively diverse, toddlers are highly unlikely to grasp the importance of these female...
Florence Nightingale, Rosa Parks, and Maria Tallchief are some of the icons introduced in this “Girl Power Primer.”
On the book’s first two pages, these and seven other women and girls (elementary school student Ruby Bridges and teen Malala Yousafzai are in the mix) appear in a group shot on a flowery field against a pink sky. Holub’s couplets, which range from passable to clunky, appear on the versos of the next 10 double-page spreads accompanied by a small portrait of the featured trailblazer. On each recto, there is a full-page image of the subject in action with a small one- or two-sentence caption with additional details. Roode’s highly saturated illustrations, which look to have been created with CGI tools, turn each figure from history into a wide-eyed cartoon with an oversized head. Unfortunately, this cutesy and simplified style makes architect and sculptor Maya Lin look to be about 3 and Ada Lovelace appear to be opening window blinds rather than creating one of the first computer programs (although how one would represent this to very young children is a bit of a puzzle). The final two pages present 12 additional women, leaving a 13th space with a question mark labeled “You!”
While this historic roll call is impressively diverse, toddlers are highly unlikely to grasp the importance of these female pioneers from the few, short lines and the simplified and sometimes confusing images. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Dec. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0106-8
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A mismatch in every way.
An introduction to 10 scientists for the youngest readers.
Each historical or modern figure is featured on their own double-page spread, which includes a close-up portrait and rhyming couplets on the verso, and the facing page features the scientist in action and a caption of a sentence or two offering more information about their work but often written at a level far beyond the board-book audience’s developmental capacity. The usual suspects are here, including Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, but women and scientists of color can also be found, such as naturalist and painter Maria Sibylla Merian and particle physicist Sau Lan Wu. The verse is strained, forced, and often doesn’t scan (for Katherine Johnson: “This little scientist got the math right / to help NASA astronauts launch outer space flight”). In an evident attempt to be cute, the phrase “This little scientist…” introduces the figures and has the effect of demeaning the women, people of color, and people with disabilities depicted. The art, like others in the This Little series, features bobbleheaded caricatures of each figure in bold colors. The final two pages present 17 additional scientists in portraiture from throughout history and around the world and a brief caption, with a blank space left open for “You!”
A mismatch in every way. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0108-2
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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