Tag: biography

Muhammad Ali Was a Chicken? by Dan Gutman (Wait! What? series)

Was Muhammad Ali a Chicken? by Dan Gutman
Illlustrated by Allison Steinfeld
W. W. Norton/Norton Young Readers

From the best-selling author behind My Weird School: a quirky new biography series that casts fresh light on high-interest historic figures.

Did you know that Muhammad Ali was so terrified of flying on planes he would bring a parachute? Or that he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Bet you didn’t know that he had an official sweat-taster to determine how salty his sweat was after each match! Siblings Paige and Turner do—and they’ve collected some of the most unusual and surprising facts about the legendary boxer and civil rights activist, from his childhood and the spark of his boxing career through his time as heavyweight champion of the world.

Narrated by the two spirited siblings and animated by Allison Steinfeld’s upbeat illustrations, Muhammad Ali Was a Chicken! is an authoritative, accessible, and one-of-a-kind biography infused with Dan Gutman’s signature zany sense of humor.

Cover and summary via W.W. Norton

Toufah : The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement

Toufah by Toufah Jallow and Kim PittawayToufah : The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement
by Toufah Jallow and Kim Pittaway
Penguin Random House/Truth to Power

The powerful story of Toufah Jallow, a brilliant and inspiring young woman who, after she was forced to flee her home in The Gambia, bravely bucked taboo and named herself as a survivor of a sexual assault by the country’s dictator—launching an unprecedented protest movement.

In 2015, Toufah Jallow was the 19-year-old daughter of the second wife in her Muslim father’s polygamous household. Her mother, outwardly conforming, saw to it that her daughter received an education and was able to pursue her own ambitions.

Dreaming of a scholarship, Toufah entered a presidential competition purportedly designed to identify the country’s smart young women and support their educational and career goals. Toufah won.

Yahya Jammeh, the dictator who had ruled The Gambia all of Toufah’s life, styled himself as a pious yet progressive protector of women. At first he behaved in a fatherly fashion toward Toufah, but then proposed marriage, and she turned him down. On a pretext, his female cousin then lured Toufah to the palace, where he drugged and raped her.

Toufah could not tell anyone. There was literally no word for rape in her native language. If she told her parents, they would take action, and incur Jammeh’s wrath. Wearing a niqab to hide her identity, she gave Jammeh’s security operatives the slip and fled to Senegal. Her route to safety in Canada is full of close calls and intrigue.

18 months after Jammeh was deposed, Toufah Jallow became the first woman in The Gambia to make a public accusation of rape against him, sparking marches of support and a social media outpouring of shared stories among West African women under #IAmToufah, setting her on the path to reclaiming the future of personal growth and education that Jammeh had tried to steal from her, a future also of leadership and advocacy for survivors of sexual violence, especially in heavily patriarchal countries lacking resources and laws to protect women and even the language with which to speak openly about sexual threats and violence.

Cover and summary via Penguin Random House

Roots and Wings: How Shahzia Sikander Became an Artist by Shahzia Sikander and Amy Novesky

Roots and Wings: How Shahzia Sikander Became an Artist
by Shahzia Sikander and Amy Novesky, Illustrated by Hanna Barczyk
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander recounts how growing up as a tomboy in a multicultural home in Pakistan inspired her to become an artist

Growing up in a multigenerational, multicultural home in Lahore, Pakistan, where her family’s Muslim traditions are filled with food and rituals, Shahzia is surrounded by stories of all kinds. At the Catholic school she attends, she studies Western literature, and at home, her father regales her and her siblings with fantastical tales from a Russian storybook on animals. Shahzia’s love for books leads to a fascination with illustrations, like the ones she sees in illuminated manuscripts and South Asian miniature portraits, and she discovers a talent for drawing. Through art, Shahzia is able to create the different worlds she reads about, using her imagination to take her beyond the walls of the home she grows up in.

Written by artist Shahzia Sikander with award-winning author Amy Novesky, and featuring artwork, Roots and Wings is a colorful introduction to a multicultural perspective that will inspire young readers to use art and imagination to explore new worlds.

Cover image and summary via Edelweiss

Posted in Reviews

Review: Malala Yousafzai (Little People, Big Dreams)

Posted on by Noureen Qadir Jafar

Review: Malala Yousafzai (Little People, Big Dreams)

Vegara, Maria Isabel Sanchez. Malala Yousafzai. Illus by Manal Mirza, 2021. 32p. Quarto /Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, $15.99  (9780711259041). Gr K-3.

This addition to the Little People, Big Dreams biography series, explores the life of Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel laureate and activist for female education. The narrative describes Malala’s childhood growing up in the Swat valley area of Pakistan and her eagerness for education. But when the Taliban regime takes control of the region, girls are suddenly banned from going to school. Malala and her friends take a stand for their right to education. She appeals to BBC to raise awareness and is subsequently targeted and shot by the Taliban in retaliation. After her recovery,

Malala grows louder, stronger, and more determined to advocate for girls’ and children’s rights to education through her foundation. She works with other activists from Pakistan, Syria, and Nigeria. Readers will take away a sense of Malala’s resilience, pathway to activism, bravery, and hope for change.  

Mirza’s illustrations are vibrant with bold tones, regional patterns, and colorful fabrics. Apart from wardrobe differences and skin tones, characters have similar-looking features.

Malala’s shooting is worded simply, honestly, and not glossed over for young readers. Adults may choose to guide discussions on gun violence and the suppression of women, civil rights, and certain activities banned by the Taliban. As Malala meets people from across the globe, these characters are represented in one spread by differences in skin tone and clothing to show a diversity in race and culture. One character has a bindi, one is wearing a kente-like print shirt and kufi, one is wearing athawb/kandura/dishdasha, and a ghutra head covering.

Illustrations seem to be taken from actual media photographs of Malala and her family, but do not always match the text. In one spread text reads that  Malala is shot and badly injured and wakes up in the hospital, but the illustrations choose to show a later time without  any signs of injury. 

One inaccuracy occurs in the spread showing a classroom, where the blackboard has a sentence written in Urdu (one of the languages spoken in Pakistan). The English translation reads “stop [being] scared of the people” but the Urdu word for “scared” is spelled incorrectly. Still, this inclusion, albeit with spelling errors, is an opportunity to teach that language script is multidirectional, with Urdu and other languages written from right to left.

Illustrated snapshots of Malala’s rise to fame, awards, other accolades, and work with other activists across the globe could have been improved with more explanation of real-life photographs. One illustration appears to be based on a photograph of Malala with indigenous Brazilian girls in traditional clothing, celebrating Malala’s 21st birthday, but is embellished, adding more people in the illustration.

Backmatter includes a timeline, photographs, and additional resources for the reader.  

This biography is a solid introductory primer on Malala with the possibility to open further conversations with young readers and expand their world view. At the same time, it is important that if an adult is facilitating discussions with a young reader, they are aware of the dynamics and history of regional conflicts when answering questions. While I have appreciation for the text and illustrations, as a Pakistani, I am concerned about the simplification of culture and traditions of one of the most beautiful regions of the world. Swat has a rich cultural heritage which was marred in 2007 by the rise of the Taliban and their ouster by the Pakistani military. I hope that this book, and others on Malala, spark an interest in not just Malala’s life and activism, but in the rich culture and history of the region as well.

Thank you to Quarto/Frances Lincoln Children’s Books and Netgalley for providing digital access to this book. Publication date for this title was March 16, 2021.

 

 

Maryam’s Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani By Megan Reid

Maryam’s Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani
by Megan Reid
Illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel
HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray

As a little girl, Maryam Mirzakhani was spellbound by stories. She loved reading in Tehran’s crowded bookstores, and at home she’d spend hours crafting her own tales on giant rolls of paper. Maryam loved school, especially her classes in reading and writing. But she did not like math. Numbers were nowhere near as interesting as the bold, adventurous characters she found in books. Until Maryam unexpectedly discovered a new genre of storytelling: In geometry, numbers became shapes, each with its own fascinating personality—making every equation a brilliant story waiting to be told. As an adult, Maryam became a professor, inventing new formulas to solve some of math’s most complicated puzzles. And she made history by becoming the first woman—and the first Iranian—to win the Fields Medal, mathematics’ highest award. Maryam’s Magic is the true story of a girl whose creativity and love of stories helped her—and the world—to see math in a new and inspiring way.

Cover image and summary via HarperCollins

Malala Yousafzai by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara (Little People, Big Dreams)

Malala Yousafzai by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara
Illustrated by: Manal Mirza
Little People, Big Dreams

Meet Malala Yousafzai, the incredible activist for girls’ education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate​.

When Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan, her father was determined she would have every opportunity that a boy would have. She loved getting an education, but when a hateful regime came to power, girls were no longer allowed to go to school. Malala spoke out in public about this, which made her a target for violence. She was shot in the left side of her head and woke up in a hospital in England. Finally, after long months and many surgeries, Malala recovered, and resolved to become an activist for girls’ education. Now a recent Oxford graduate, Malala continues to fight for a world where all girls can learn and lead. This powerful book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the activist’s life.

Cover image and summary via Little People, Big Dreams