Review of The Soldier's Friend

Walt Whitman's Extraordinary Service

in the American Civil War

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Calkins Creek

(Astra Books for Young Readers)

(pub. 9.17.2024)

40 pages

Ages 7 -10

Author: Gary Golio

   Illustrator: E. B. Lewis

Character: Walt Whitman

Overview:

" In December of 1862, Walt Whitman left Brooklyn, New York, for the war-torn South after seeing his brother's name on a list of wounded Union soldiers. What he found on the battlefields completely changed his life, as he came face to face with not only the wounded, but the dying.

Whitman spent the next three years working part-time in Washington, DC, visiting and ministering to soldiers in the city’s many military hospitals. Caring for the sick and dying was not easy, but Whitman was committed to his chosen service. He became known as 'the soldiers’ friend,' and was bound—in his own way—to save and heal the America he wrote about and loved so deeply."

Tantalizing taste:

"On nights like those, Walt walked slowly home.

The moon above - a beacon of golden light - shone bright on both the North and South.

On all soldiers, all people.

And on the America that Walt would believe in for the rest of his life.

'The moon gives you light,

And the bugles and the drums give you music.

And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,

My heart gives you love.'-

-Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass"

And something more: The section titled The Best of Friends explains: "Walt's example of service during the Civil war is a story of what one person can do. He believed completely in the ideals that America stood for - friendship, equality, freedom, unity - and felt torn apart as his country was overcome by hatred and fear... he had the personal gifts - patience, compassion, an easygoing way with pepole - that wouold prove useful in heping the wounded... Walt felt that he receive much more than he ever gave, and called his service 'the greatest privilege and satisfaction ... and, of course, the most profound lesson of my life.'"

Review of Signs of Hope

The Revolutionary Art of Sister Corita Kent

A TRUE TALE WITH

A CHERRY ON TOP

Abrams Books for Young Readers

(pub. 4.16.2024)

40 pages

Ages 4 - 8

Author: Mara Rockliff

   Illustrator: Melissa Sweet

Character: Sister Corita Kent

Overview:

" Sister Corita Kent, the 'pop art nun,' burst onto the 1960s art scene with splashes of color and ad slogans transformed into messages of love, hope, peace, and justice. The art world would never be the same—and neither would the young people whose lives she changed.

Join Corita’s students as they learn how to look at the world around them through an artist’s eyes. With Corita, work is play, imagination means adventure, and there is no line between life and art."

Tantalizing taste:

"She has taught us how to SEE

and play

and protest joyfully,

to make art all our lives

and to make our lives ART.

Now it's our turn to share what we have learned.

'She taught that art is not something apart from life and living.'

'Everything was a joy to her ... and that's catching.'

'I didn't know that I could see the way that an artist sees.'

'There aren't many lessons more valuable than to pay attention.'

'She didn't teach us how to draw or paint so much as she taught us to care.'"

And something more: The author, Mara Rockliff, shares in the Author's Note: "By the late 1960s, America was in turmoil, with protests about racism and the ongoing war in Vietnam... Sister Corita admired the courage of the Catonsville Nine [a group of Catholic activists arrested for an act of civil disobedience against what many considered an immoral war] and tried to emulate it in her art with prints that juxtaposed words and images in unexpected ways to make viewers think more deeply about world events."

Review of Planting Hope

A Portrait of Photographer

Sebastião Salgado

A TRUE TALE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP

Atheneum Books for Young Readers

(Simon & Schuster)

(pub. 3.5.2024)

48 pages

Ages 6 - 9

Author: Philip Hoelzel

   Illustrator: Renato Alarcão

Character: Sebastião Salgado

Overview:

" As a young boy, Sebastião Salgado loved exploring his parents’ farm in the forests of Brazil, always dreaming of what might lie beyond his view. When he went away to school, he met Lélia, who showed him how to use a camera. As he looked through the lens, Sebastião realized he could use photography to capture how the world fits together.

Sebastião used his pictures to tell the stories of people who might not otherwise be seen. But after witnessing too much destruction, he put away his camera and returned to his childhood home. The land was in ruins.

So Sebastião and Lélia decided to rebuild the rainforest and photograph the beauty of the world to save it. Through art and activism, they would show that everyone was responsible for caring for the planet and that hope endures if we take action."

Tantalizing taste:

"But when Sebastião and Lélia arrived [back at his childhood farm in Brazil], the land was in ruins.

Brazilwood, ironwood, and peroba trees that held water in the soil and provided shade on hot, sunny days had been cut down for lumber. The soft forest soils were wearing away. The ocelots, anteaters, and colorful birds were gone...

Lélia cried to see the sickness of the land.

Sebastião wept over the destruction of his childhood paradise.

Then Lelia thought of something that gave her hope...'Let's rebuild your beautiful world. Let's plant the rainforest that was here before'."

And something more: The section, Instituto Terra - The Environmental Education Center in Aimorés, Brazil explains: "When Sebastião and Lélia created Instituto Terra, their first project was to replant about seven hundred soccer fields' worth of native trees on Sebastião's boyhood farm... Today they have grown more than four million seedlings. Many of these seedlings have been used on projects that have helped save seventeen thousand acres of land (approximately eleven thousand soccer fields) in the Rio Doce river valley near Sebastião's boyhood home."