Review by New York Times Review
"AWAY BACK IN my childhood, the earliest days of my being able to read," Abraham Lincoln nostalgically remembered on the eve of his first inauguration, "I got hold of a small book Weems' 'Life of Washington.' " The future president never forgot its vivid accounts of the battles and heroes of the Revolutionary War, not to mention the causes for which the founders fought. "I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was," he reminisced, "that there must have been something more than common that those men struggled for." The book's stories "fixed themselves on my memory," he proudly added, acknowledging that "these early impressions last longer than any others." It is entirely possible that some other future president, boy or girl, may cast eyes on these four works of presidential biography and poetry, inviting the question: Will any of the books inspire young readers to revere and emulate - or, just as usefully, question and critique - their subjects? It's probably too much to expect. Modern juvenile biographies hardly strive for the Weems effect. They are mercifully shorter than that notoriously bloated tome, and far less hagiographic. It is fair to admit, on the other hand, that young Abe Lincoln would not have liked books with "an edge," just as today's young readers would never stand for the reverential bloviating in Weems's megaselling bible of myths. Yet even Lincoln would have appreciated the beautiful and often amusing color illustrations that accompany the best of today's kid-lit biographies. In Lincoln's day, a stilted engraving of a miniature George Washington manfully admitting he had cut down his father's cherry tree was about as visually daring as things got. Happily, no such restraints inhibit the acclaimed artist-writer Maira Kalman, whose exuberant Matisse-like style, eye for unusual detail, and disarming bluntness enliven her breezy and typically offbeat life of Thomas Jefferson. She talks children's language, too. Her subject is interested in "everything," she enthuses in a text overflowing with capital letters and emphatic script "I mean it. Everything." So is Kalman. She illustrates and explicates on everything from Jefferson's freckles (20 of them in all, she thinks), formidable linguistic talents, collecting mania, green thumb, fondness for ice cream, inventiveness and inexhaustible energy. Then, once she has us ensnared in her whimsical world, she hits us with five blunt pages on the horrors of slavery, calmly and cannily introducing the subject with a spare interior view of a cramped slave cabin, followed by a busy depiction of enslaved cooks tending Jefferson's kitchen, which he enters obliviously each week, she tells us, merely to wind the grandfather clock. It's about as much as readers aged 5 to 8 should be expected to absorb about Jefferson's - and his country's - shameful hypocrisy without having a sleep-inducing bedtime story descend into a nightmare-evoking all-nighter. Kalman, a subtle but shrewd moralizer, is right on the mark in summarizing Jefferson as "optimistic and complex and tragic and wrong and courageous." Her book is hypnotically charming, abounding with striking little details that children will remember. Who wouldn't be enthralled to know that the author of the Declaration of Independence had blazing red hair, liked peas, counted to 10 when he was angry, and had his frayed coats mended with old socks? C. F. Payne's soft-toned illustrations, which grace Doreen Rappaport's lovely little volume on Theodore Roosevelt, prove no less gripping, although they hardly approach a Kalmanesque "edge." The text inevitably offers classic "weakling to heman" inspiration, following young Teddy (in truth not so nicknamed until he met his future wife, we're told) as he transforms from nearsighted nerd to Energizer Bunny workaholic. Rappaport, who is strongest on Roosevelt's childhood years, portrays the grown-up T.R. as a crusader without warts, reforming the corrupt New York Police Department, achieving military glory with the Rough Riders, and busting selfish corporate trusts. The book sidesteps Roosevelt's tendency to use "bully" as both a catchword and a political tactic, and brushes past his anticlimactic 1912 try for a White House comeback - Doris Kearns Goodwin may now breathe a sigh of relief - but Rappaport is no less persuasive than Kalman in evoking the virtues of energy and curiosity. And Payne's pictures advance the text with spirit and inventiveness: The double-page illustration showing President Roosevelt lassoing a gigantic fist gripping a wad of cash, to name one, neatly evokes T.R.'s crusading spirit while wordlessly critiquing the American mania for wealth. With similar proficiency, the illustrator AG Ford's John Currin-like realism makes Jonah Winter's new biography, "JFK," sparkle like a Life magazine collectors' edition, but here it is the text that produces the true startle effect. Yes, of course, we will be told that John F. Kennedy, too, adored study, exercise and family fun, but Winter opens his account at the end of the story with a whale of a first-person revelation: He was a 1-year-old perched on his father's shoulders peering at the Dallas motorcade on Nov. 22, 1963, just a few minutes before the president lost his life. Winter watched Kennedy "waving to the crowds of cheering people, watched him getting smaller and smaller as the car drove on." Could a 1-year-old really be left with such vivid impressions? A reality check would be superfluous. Amid the recent avalanche of 50th-anniversary assassination rehash, how many other authors can offer such an extraordinarily personal connection to the tragedy? It's been a few years since I've read bedtime books to my grandson - he now reads to me - but I would have happily chosen all of the above to read to my own future president (and then tried stealing Kalman's for my own bookshelf). After all, what could be more nourishing and soothing than a dose of inspiring success stories leavened by the occasional, if sugarcoated, dose of reality? For variety, the poems in "Rutherford B. Who Was He?" will surely entertain any little insomniac even if the sometimes tortured rhymes won't soon supplant Dr. Seuss. Still, one has to give Marilyn Singer credit for rhyming "drudge" and "pudge" for Taft, "underrated" and "celebrated" (Carter), "jazz cat" and "New Democrat" (Clinton), and "Afghanistan" and "Yes, we can!" (guess who?). Suppose, as in the case of my grandson, it takes at least three books on one soothing subject to elicit grudging consent for lights-out. From an hour's immersion in these four adorable volumes of presidential lore, one encouraging common theme emerges: Jefferson "read many books," Teddy Roosevelt "gobbled up books," and John F. Kennedy "loved words." The lesson is: Read, and then read some more. These particular titles would not be a bad place to begin. HAROLD HOLZER is the author of "Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America," the officialyoung readers' companion book to the Steven Spielberg film.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 26, 2014]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Thomas Jefferson was complex as this picture-book biography vigorously demonstrates. Famous for life, liberty, and the pursuit of everything, he sometimes fell short of the ideal. If Kalman expressed adulation for Lincoln in Looking at Lincoln (2012), in this examination, although admiring of her subject and his accomplishments, she's more clear-sighted. Vibrant gouache paintings some full-spread, some more intimate images capture Jefferson's family and colleagues, his interests and pursuits, his lavish home, and its inferior slave quarters. The voice is that of a curious child reporting fascinating research findings. The rangy tone, however, allows Kalman to supply a wealth of information though not everything is well explained. Jefferson had an ingenious copying machine ? Just a sentence or two highlighting each point is often followed by unrestrained commentary: upon sharing a list of his slaves, the text laments, Our hearts are broken ; after revealing that Jefferson did not include his presidency in his epitaph, a musing: I wonder why. Even the typography, which alternates between staid print and handwritten flourishes, conveys enthusiasm. Playful but informative, as quick witted as Jefferson himself, this will along with the author's note will inspire young readers to learn more.--McDermott, Jeanne Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Kalman turns her gaze on America's third president, without the unconditional adoration she brought to Looking at Lincoln. Jefferson was "a terrible speaker but a great writer," Kalman explains, lingering on his Declaration of Independence's notions of equality: "It would be many years until most Americans were treated equally but it was the ideal on which America was founded." Initially, Kalman focuses on Jefferson's genius for collecting, architecture, and gardening, but halfway through, she reveals, "The man who said of slavery 'This abomination must end' was the owner of about 150 slaves. The monumental man had monumental flaws.... What did they do? Everything." She pictures "the beautiful Sally Hemings" smiling and suggests that "some of" Jefferson and Hemings's children "were freed and able to pass for white." Other elephants in the room include Jefferson's antiquated attitudes toward Native Americans and land grabs. Kalman dwells in conflict and raises questions to the end, pronouncing Monticello a symbol of all that is "optimistic and complex and tragic and wrong and courageous" about America. Includes author notes, not seen by PW. Ages 5-8. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency. (Jan.)? (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-This conversational introduction to Thomas Jefferson for young children provides a brief but broad overview of the third president's accomplishments and many interests. Listeners will learn that Jefferson prized learning, designed his own home, and worked in his beloved garden often. Musings by the narrator are interspersed between the shared facts, allowing young children to better understand this complicated man. Kalman comments openly on her sadness that Jefferson owned slaves and tells readers directly about his relationship with Sally Hemings. Despite the complexities explored, the story manages to remain lighthearted and age appropriate. Reader Susie Berneis does an excellent job capturing this lighthearted tone and maintaining a pace that will keep listeners engaged. While there is not much call for unique voices in this telling, Berneis is able to convey to readers clearly when a direct quote is being made. Listeners who do not have a copy of the physical book in front of them will miss out when the narrator refers to illustrations from its pages. However, this is only a minor detraction and most children will easily follow the audio presentation. -VERDICT This is a solid introduction to Thomas Jefferson for young children.-Deanna Romriell, Salt Lake City Public Library, UT © Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
On the cover of this striking picture book biography, Jefferson poses proudly in the foreground with his celebrated home standing on a hill in the distance. The book begins without so much as a cursory exposition of his childhood as Kalman launches into Jefferson's life at Monticello, positioning the estate both as the birthplace of his expansive intellect and as a context in which to consider his greatest achievements and failures as a statesman, patriarch, and slave owner. A series of spreads, with Kalman's familiar primitivist rendering and chromatic brilliance, details Jefferson's work as collector, architect, horticulturalist, and musician. We meet his family and his Colonial colleagues; we learn about the Louisiana Purchase and the Declaration of Independence. We learn, too, of his public statements against slavery, the opulence of his private life, and the human hypocrisy that stood in between ("the monumental man had monumental flaws"), including the belief that he fathered six children with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves. Kalman (Looking at Lincoln, rev. 1/12) addresses all of this with a colloquial, occasionally arch, and whimsical narrative, heavy with historical import and dotted with trivia ("His favorite vegetable was peas. Peas really are wonderful and fun to count"). The vibrant imagery, frank content, and disarming language combine in a nuanced portrait that respects its subject and its audience in equal measure. At a time when the Founding Fathers are invoked frequently as heroes of lost, black-and-white propriety, a biography of such candor is welcome indeed. Direct, objective author's notes about the people and places involved round out this substantial offering. thom barthelmess (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Beautiful and a little sad: the complex, brilliant, flawed nature of the third U.S. president. Kalman's rich, impressionist colors and lively lines offer glimpses: Monticello; the chamber where the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia; portraits of Jefferson's wife and of Sally Hemings. The image of Jefferson on horseback riding along a lane at Monticello, redbud in bloom, seems both immediate and long past. Kalman's poetic presentation conveys succinctly what a longer text might: Jefferson was a lover of books, an autodidact and an aesthete. His house was both functional and beautiful. His personal life was layered with sadness: Only two of six legitimate children survived past childhood; his wife died young. Kalman doesn't speculate on the source of Jefferson's passion for the ideals of democracy and liberty yet conveys clearly his contribution to the growing nation as founding father and president. But this intriguing man was a slave owner and father to children whose mother and aunts were severely oppressed. Kalman's intimate address to listeners and readers works well here: A charming, earlier narrative acknowledgment that peas have their appeal (as they did for Jefferson the gardener) gives way to the thorny personal realization that someone admired fails profoundly to meet expectations: "Our hearts are broken," is stated flatly next to a ledger of payments to enslaved residents of Monticello. Impressive complexity put artfully and respectfully within the grasps of young readers. (Picture book/biography. 7-11)]]]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
