Lina Maslo

Free as a Bird, The Story of Malala written and illustrated by Lina Maslo. This lovely biography tells the story of Malala Yousafzai and her courage to stand up, at a very young age, for the right of girls to be educated anywhere on Earth. Malala grew up the daughter of a teacher living in Pakistan, at a time and place when the religious extremist group, the Taliban, rose to take power. Malala was shot at the age of 15 only because she was a girl and she was getting an education. Malala’s courage to continue and speak up for equal human rights continues today. Lina Maslo has taken a, what could be construed as a scary story, and illustrated it in calming, soft watercolors to gently tell students of a younger age the story of a girl with the strength and courage to speak out for what is right in an environment stiff with ridged views.… (more)

Lina Maslo, the author and illustrator who made her debut with Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala, a picture-book biography of Malala Yousafzai, returns to the form in this exploration of the life of the celebrated author C.S. Lewis. From his childhood in Belfast, when, together with his brother Warnie, he dreamt up all sorts of stories about the made-up land of Boxen, through his unhappy days at boarding school, after his mother's death, and his service during World War I, the story follows Lewis through his life, leading up to the creation of his most famous work: the children's fantasy novels set in Narnia. Begun as a tale for some of the child evacuees living with him, during World War II, these stories would become famous throughout the world, and would even lead to Lewis meeting his wife, later in life. The book concludes with a detailed afterword giving more information about C.S. Lewis, and a bibliography...

As someone who has loved The Chronicles of Narnia since early childhood, when I first read them, and who also greatly enjoyed Maslo's previous picture-book biography, I picked up Through the Wardrobe: How C. S. Lewis Created Narnia with great interest. Other than the film Shadowlands, which covers Lewis' romance and marriage with Joy Gresham, I have not seen or read anything about his life, so I found this quite informative, and I imagine that young readers will as well. One sees in Narnia the culmination of Lewis' own childhood games of make-believe and storytelling, which I think emphasizes just how important such activities are, for the development of young minds. His unhappy experiences at school, when he was a victim of bullying, clearly also influenced some of his work, such as the early scenes in The Silver Chair. Oddly enough, despite his own negative experiences with more traditional boarding schools, Lewis also seems to have had a distaste for more modern, progressive schools. As someone happiest with a private tutor, perhaps Lewis just didn't care for school at all. In any case, the story here is both informative and engaging, and is paired with appealing, expressive illustrations. Highly recommended to picture-book readers who enjoy biography, and to any child who loves Narnia, or enjoys games of make-believe.… (more)