Deborah Kogan Ray

Pairing selections from the poet's autobiographical writing with her own narrative, Deborah Kogan Ray - whose other biographical picture-books include such titles as Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw and Down the Colorado: John Wesley Powell, the One-Armed Explorer - tells the story of Pablo Neruda's youth in To Go Singing Through the World. Chronicling the shy young boy's childhood in the Chilean frontier-town of Temuco, his loving relationship with his step-mother, who introduced him show more to the stories of Chile's indigenous people (she was Mapuche herself), it also highlights the early years of his life-long friendship with fellow poet Gabriela Mistral, who was the principal of the girls' division of his school, and who became his mentor.

I enjoyed both the dual-strand narrative and the artwork in this book, and was struck by how all three combine flawlessly to capture the intensity of a young Neruda's feelings, and his inward-drawn early life. How interesting that such a phenomenally gifted poet, someone known for his strong voice (even if only his literary voice), was so quiet and withdrawn, as a child. Ray's book makes you feel that it is this very solitude that created the poet - an idea I find rather appealing. After all, before one can truly communicate, one must understand, and listening and observation play such an important part in building understanding. In any case, this is just an immensely engaging biography of an important figure in world literature, and is a book I would recommend to all young poets, and fans of Pablo Neruda. show less

Deborah Kogan Ray, whose many picture-book biographies include such titles as Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw, Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age and To Go Singing Through the World: The Childhood of Pablo Neruda, turns her attention, in this newest offering, to the story of Sarah Winnemucca, whose 1883 Life Among The Piutes: Their Wrongs And Claims was the first autobiography to be published by a Native American woman.** Winnemucca - or Thocmentony (meaning "Shell show more Flower") as she was known in her own language - witnessed incredible changes in her life, from her early childhood in her people's homeland in Nevada, before the coming of the white man (she was born around 1844); through her atypical education, learning to speak English, and to read and write, thanks to the far-sighted wisdom of her grandfather, Chief Truckee; to the eventual confinement of her people on a reservation, after a period of forced exile in Yakima, Washington. A dedicated activist for her people, Winnemucca gave hundreds of speeches on their behalf, worked as a translator and scout for the United States Army (sometimes to win concessions for her people), and founded a short-lived school for Paiute children, incorporating the kindergarten methods of one of her patrons, Elizabeth Peabody.

Having read and enjoyed Winnemucca's autobiography, a number of years ago, when it was an assigned text in one of my college Women's Studies courses, I was very excited to discover that Deborah Kogan Ray planned to release a children's picture-book about her! The text-heavy narrative here is most informative, giving a full picture of Winnemucca's long, active life. I was particularly impressed that the less palatable aspects of the story - the almost constant record of wrongs done to the Paiute people, by white settlers - were not neglected or glossed over. I did wonder a bit at the title chosen - I understand that Winnemucca was sometimes billed to white audiences as "Princess Sarah," but since the Paiute had no tradition of royalty themselves, would have preferred something like "Mother Sarah" - the name by which she was known to her own people. Leaving that aside, this is an excellent work, which will serve to introduce young readers to a fascinating figure from American history - one that deserves to be better known!

**The claim is sometimes made that Sarah Winnemucca was the first Native American woman author to be published, but I believe that that honor goes to Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (Bamewawagezhikaquay in Ojibwe), whose stories and poems began to appear in print in 1815. show less

Deborah Kogan Ray, whose many excellent picture-book biographies include such titles as Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw and To Go Singing Through the World: The Childhood of Pablo Neruda, here turns her attention to the story of the 18th/19th century Japanese artist known as Hokusai, and the result is simply delightful! Her engaging narrative, which follows the self-styled "peasant from Katsushika" (who used more than thirty names in the course of his life) as he rises from orphaned show more shop assistant to famous artist, is paired with Ray's own lovely artwork, and one reproduction of a Hokusai print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

I enjoyed learning more about this extraordinary man and artist, whose name was familiar, but whose life-story was previously unknown to me. How amazing, not just that Hokusai (a name which means "North Star Studio") went from an impoverished orphan to a renowned artist - someone whose funeral procession included one hundred of the shogun's samurai - but also, how remarkable that his creative impulses prompted him to continually try new styles and methods, and to depict unpopular subjects like fisherman, and other working-class people. Ray is to be commended, not just for creating an engaging and informative story, but for really giving the reader a sense of her subject's complexity and depth, as an artist. Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain (that would be Mt. Fuji), is highly recommended to all young artists and would-be artists, and all young readers interested in the history of art and/or Japan. show less

This immensely engaging picture-book biography follows the story of artist and children's author Wanda Hazel Gág (pronounced "gog"), whose ground-breaking picture-book Millions of Cats, was chosen as a Newbery Honor Book in 1929, and remains in print to this day. Born and raised in Minnesota, in an enclave of German-speaking Bohemian immigrants, Wanda's childhood was a happy one: surrounded by the love of her artistic parents, and her six younger siblings, she imbibed a constant diet of show more fairy-tales and Old World art. But when her beloved father died of tuberculosis, and her mother, too worn out from caring for her father, was unable to work, sixteen-year-old Wanda became the family breadwinner, temporarily putting away her dreams of art school. But though she shelved her own desires for a time, nothing could keep Wanda from drawing and painting - a calling that would eventually take her (after her family was comfortably settled) to St. Paul and thence to New York City.

Although I've been reading quite a few picture-book biographies intended for younger readers of late, Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw really stands out as an excellent example of the genre! Not only is it most informative, setting out the basic outline of Gág's life, and filling in many of the details, but the narrative itself is well-written, and really quite moving. I found myself tearing up at a few points, and was immensely impressed with this woman's sense of duty, and her love for her family. Deborah Kogan Ray really captures the fact that this was both a great artist and a great woman! The artwork is likewise appealing, with many little details - I loved the cats Snoopie and Snookie, upon whom Gág based her famous picture-book - that will grab the reader's attention. Included at the rear is a factual afterword, an author's note, and a list for further reading. What more could anyone want?

Highly recommend to all young readers, whether they are artists who are wondering if they "have what it takes," and need some encouragement, or fans of Gág's work. show less