Review by New York Times Review
CHILDREN, LIKE NATIONS, need heroes to call their own. Parson Mason Weems's "Life of Washington" rolled off the presses in Philadelphia in 1800, mere months after the death of the father of our country, with Weems's stated goal to inspire young Americans to emulate the great man's shining example. We have that book to thank for the compelling image of the rambunctious 6-year-old George chopping down his father's best cherry tree, then fessing up to his misdeed with the immortal words: "I cannot tell a lie." The irrepressible parson, we now know, invented the scene out of whole cloth, which is certainly a tad ironic. Yet less cavalier authors than Weems have wrestled with the question of whether, or to what extent in the seemingly special case of a biography for young readers, a touch-up job might be in order. The 1940 Caldecott Medal winner, "Abraham Lincoln," by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, ends with an illustration of the weary president resting contentedly in a favorite rocker, the Civil War having just come to a successful conclusion. You would never guess Lincoln had those theater tickets. Post-Sendak, picture book authors, biographers included, have had greater latitude for emotional candor than in previous generations. They have also grown far more adventurous in their choice of subjects, expanding the pantheon to include notables as varied as Jackie Robinson, Albert Einstein, the aviator Ruth Elder and the avant-garde composer Charles Ives. The trend was already well underway when Common Core national education standards began giving pride of place to nonfiction in the public school curriculum, greatly amplifying the demand for a broad array of such books. Ten years ago, "The Right Word," a picture-book life of Peter Mark Roget, inventor of the thesaurus, would have been a publishing non-starter - a project "too special" for the market to bear. Happily, all that has changed, and we now have this spirited portrait of the Swiss-born Victorian who found an ingenious way to help people say what they mean. Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet, whose previous collaborations include biographies of William Carlos Williams and Horace Pippin, have done their homework and considered their audience. Bryant allows the early death of Roget's father, when the boy was 4, to stand for a whole series of family crises that turned him inward from an early age and prompted Roget to adopt obsessive list-making as a self-protective strategy long before it became his life work. The narrative moves swiftly, with Bryant deftly hinting that Roget's immersion in the English language's superabundance of synonyms had everything to do with his lifelong struggle to come to terms with his challenging - depressing? impossible? - family. Sweet's richly layered graphics frame the basic narrative drawings in collaged bits and pieces of calligraphy, antique engraving, archival maps, bookbinding remnants and other evocative oddments that collectively provide an attic-glimpse into the mind of a restless man whose vast vocabulary could barely keep pace with his curiosity. "Mr. Ferris and His Wheel" recounts the pivotal episode in the life of another inventor who made his mark. The engineer George Ferris won the competition to design America's answer to the Eiffel Tower, then - against staggering odds - built his monumental "Monster Wheel" in time for the 1893 Chicago Exposition. It is fascinating to learn that the Ferris wheel got its start in a whir of patriotic fervor and as a cutting-edge applied-science experiment that critics thought insane. While making these historical points might seem enough for one picture book, it is still too bad that in Kathryn Gibbs Davis's narrative Ferris never emerges as more than a stock character in a standard American morality tale of pluck, stick-to-itiveness and mechanical know-how. Gilbert Ford's stylish illustrations have their fine touches of humor and period detail but are similarly cool in color palette as well as emotionally. Missing is a humanizing spark like the one that must have ignited this driven man. In "Star Stuff," Stephanie Roth Sisson zooms in close on her subject's personal dimension from the start, portraying Carl Sagan, quite plausibly, as a wonder-struck schoolboy who grew up to become a wonder-struck - and hugely accomplished - astrophysicist and public figure. The author pinpoints childhood trips to his Brooklyn family's apartment house rooftop, the local library and the 1939 New York World's Fair as formative moments in a largely self-propelled quest that culminated in Sagan's habitual manner of thinking and acting on a cosmic scale. Sisson's intimate, sketch-like drawings suit the early, coming-of-age part of the story particularly well. But a later image of deep space and the unmanned space probes Sagan helped to put there does not quite make the leap into pictorial awesomeness, and the vast sliver of the universe Sagan explored ends up looking a bit cramped in this 40-page volume. IT TURNS OUT that a picture-book biography can have a hero with four legs and a fearsome bark. Emily Arnold McCully's "Strongheart" unearths the little-known (except to die-hard movie buffs) story of the dog who became a silent-film star before Rin Tin Tin. Strongheart - the screen name of Etzel von Oeringen - was a purebred German shepherd descended from a line of champion police dogs. Etzel had the chops to perform daredevil deeds on command, to quickly master new tricks and even to display a repertoire of three-hanky emotions for the camera. How did stardom come his way? McCully points to a devoted director/trainer who, with his screenwriter wife, built a powerful bond with the dog, then made the films that brought them their fleeting fame. McCully, the 1993 Caldecott Medal winner for "Mirette on the High Wire," has done a meticulous job of recreating the quicksilver world of that bygone media age. The megaphones, bobbed hair and jodhpurs are all here. And in Etzel, a dog born and bred to be strong and brave, she has given young readers a rare portrait of a Hollywood hero who was just as heroic off-screen as on. LEONARD S. MARCUS is the author, most recently, of "Randolph Caldecott: The Man Who Could Not Stop Drawing."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 2, 2014]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Ten months before the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, there was still no centerpiece to rival that of the previous fair's Eiffel Tower. Enter young engineer George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., who had a vision of a structure not only tall but also rigged for motion. Having no better choices, fair organizers begrudgingly accepted his proposal but offered not a cent of funding. With but four months to go, George scrambled for funding and materials, most of it a newfangled metal called steel, including a 70-ton axle, the largest piece of steel ever forged. The harried workers struggled with frozen Chicago ground, unexpected quicksand, more than 100,000 parts, and, most of all, the derision of onlookers who found the spindly-looking contraption undignified and sure to collapse in high winds. But it didn't rather, it ascended heavenward into both day and night skies, offering unparalleled views from its posh living-room-sized passenger cars. Like Mr. Ferris' invention, Davis' picture-book bio soars, inspires, and keeps (the pages) ever turning, matching the gregarious text to smaller, often tech-based side comments. Ford's impressionistic, wine-colored washes blend a fantastical mood with a staggering sense of mechanical scale. It's tough to awe readers with a ride with which they are so familiar, but Davis and Ford pull it off. Grab your tickets; here we go.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
With the 1893 Chicago World's Fair on the horizon, American engineer George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. won a design contest for what would become the Ferris wheel, a "structure that would dazzle and move, not just stand still like the Eiffel Tower" (the star of the previous World Fair). Despite naysayers ("It's undignified," grouses one onlooker), George and his crew plowed forward with plans for the giant, circular steel structure, unveiling the machine at the fair's opening. Davis delivers a tense and satisfying underdog story, while Ford creates a stylized 19th-century landscape, setting impressionistic backgrounds against the hard-edged geometric shapes of the wheel and other structures, colored in deep, subdued blues and violets. Direct quotations and captions explaining historical detail keep the context of the story in sharp focus. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. Illustrator's agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-It's almost time for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and American architects are hoping to design a star attraction to rival the French Eiffel Tower. Mechanical engineer George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. has a daring idea: a huge, round, moving structure made from steel, a new metal unrivaled in both lightness and strength. After overcoming obstacles ranging from mockery to quicksand, Ferris and his team finally complete their wheel, which delights fairgoers and goes on to become a staple of fairgrounds around the world. Librarians familiar with Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City (Random, 2002) already know this story, but the focus here is less on the Chicago World's Fair and more on the process involved in building a mechanical marvel. Details such as why support structures were necessary and how tension wheels work will engage emerging engineers, while those with a less scientific bent can nevertheless appreciate the excitement felt by the Ferris Wheel's very first passengers. The primary story is told in an easy-to-read serif font, and secondary details are added in smaller sans-serif sections. A purple-dominated color scheme contrasts with occasional greens and yellows. Overall, the modernist look, inherently interesting topic, and strong documentation (including quotations from primary sources) make this title a positive addition, especially those looking to enhance their nonfiction offerings in view of new Common Core standards.-Jill Ratzan, I. L. Peretz Community Jewish School, Somerset, NJ (c) 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
George Ferris wanted a magnificent, moving symbol for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. But Ferris received little encouragement and had to develop his invention without outside financing and by overcoming numerous unforeseen problems. The straightforward account includes some awkward tangential facts. Ford's digital art with ink and watercolor nicely highlights the finished edifice against a night sky. Websites. Bib. (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
The invention of the Ferris wheel is explored in story and pictures designed to describe the age of innovation for young readers.The legendary Ferris wheel was one of myriad inventions that came out of the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago. George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. was a mechanical engineer who was determined to outdo the star of the previous Worlds Fair, the Eiffel Tower. To Ferris, engineering and innovation were part of the American nature, and he set out to prove it by designing a structure that would amaze fairgoers. Working with his engineering partner, Ferris turned his vision into plans but had difficulty convincing officials until they found themselves without a star attraction months before the fair was to open. They agreed to his plan but provided no financing. Ferris was relentless in his efforts to bring his wheel to fruition, and it became one of the fairs most popular attractions. This straightforward narrative for younger readers provides a good sense of the period of innovation and the type of personal drive it took to bring ideas to reality. Additional pertinent facts that support the story appear in sidebars. The slightly retro, line-and-color illustrations, done in an unexpected, muted palette, enhance the text and provide additional interest.Kids who take Ferris wheels for granted should find this history eye-opening. (sources, bibliography, websites) (Informational picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
