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The Kite That Bridged Two Nations by Alexis O’Neill

Windy Days Not Required …
To Enjoy This Story Based On Actual Historical Events

Did you know that April is National Kite Month (officially March 29 – May 4, 2014)? I didn’t until author Alexis O’Neill told me. So what better time than now to review her latest picture book, The Kite That Bridged Two Nations (Calkins Creek, $16.95, Ages 8-11) written by Alexis O’Neill with illustrations by Terry Widener? Just like us on Facebook and/or Twitter and let us know you did for an entry into the giveaway. Scroll down to the comment form to enter and please give us your mailing address in the comment section. Giveaway ends midnight PST on Tuesday, June 3rd. A winner will be chosen by Random.org and notified via email on Weds. June 4, 2014. Good luck!!

The Kite That Bridged Two Nations: Homan Walsh and the First Niagara Suspension Bridge by Alexis O’Neill with illustrations by Terry Widener, Calkins Creek, 2013.

As a former New Yorker and a fan of Niagara Falls, I was eager to read O’Neill’s book to find out more about The Kite That Bridged Two Nations: Homan Walsh and the First Niagara Suspension Bridge. Perhaps, I wondered, I once even crossed its replacement, The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, when I visited Niagara Falls long ago. I first heard O’Neill read from this fantastic true tale at an SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) conference and marveled at her meticulous research and attention to detail. The free verse she chose to use in the picture book, along with having an older Walsh as narrator looking back on this historic event from his childhood, made it very accessible. I think that’s a big part of what makes this nonfiction story come alive for readers.

Homan Walsh is a 16-year-old who gets the “itch to fly a kite” when he feels the wind blowing just right. In fact, his love of kite flying as well as his uncanny ability to read the wind, has made him one of the best kite fliers around. Widener draws us into the locale of the story with illustrations of Walsh so close to the edge of cliffs along the Niagara that we just have to read on first and foremost to make sure he doesn’t fall. Plus, put on some wool socks because Widener’s frosty, snow covered Niagara scenes will pull you into the pages, bundled up right beside Homan as he braves the cold winter clime to fly his kite. When a handbill announcing a kite-flying contest catches his eye, he’s determined to win the …

$10 PRIZE TO THE FIRST BOY WHOSE KITE STRING SPANS FROM AMERICA TO CANADA

Young Walsh builds his own kite which he names Union with “a thousand feet of string to reach across the gorge.” And though I knew the story had a happy ending, I still found myself rooting for Walsh. In the end pages O’Neill notes she could not substantiate Homan Walsh’s tense relationship with his father as depicted in the book, however her research did indicate he lived apart from his family. So when his second kite-flying attempt to span the gorge proves successful, Walsh wins not only the contest, but the admiration and approval of this father. He’s also laid the groundwork upon which engineer Charles Ellet, Jr. could string his cable to build a suspension bridge between the two countries.

As if the story alone were not good enough which it most certainly is, O’Neill seems to have read my mind and in the back matter of the picture book she answers the many questions I would have asked her in person. Included are an informative Author’s Note, a Timeline and Selected Sources and online links. Thanks to Alexis O’Neill for taking this seemingly little known story of Homan Walsh out of the archives and into our lives.

I encourage you to also check out this terrific interview with author O’Neill to get her personal account of how The Kite That Bridged Two Nations came to be written.

– Reviewed by Ronna Mandel

Recommended Picture Book for MLK Day – The Cart That Carried Martin

January 19, 2014
goodreadswithronna
Ages 6-9, Children's Book Reviews, Juvenile Nonfiction

Here is one of the best books I have read that honors
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

THE CART THAT CARRIED MARTIN

Written by Eve Bunting

Illustrated by Don Tate

(Charlesbridge Publishing; Paperback $7.99, Ages 6-9)

Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
With This Junior Library Guild Selection

★ Starred reviews from Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

A Junior Library Guild Selection
NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
Bulletin Blue Ribbon from the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Booklist Top 10 Black History Books for Youth
IRA Teachers’ Choices Winner

We all love holidays, but Monday, January 16th is different. It’s not a day off from work and school to shop or spend time on social media. It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (aka MLK Day), a day of reflection on this great leader’s life and contribution to society, and also now a national day of service.

Inspired by an article she read in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Pasadena author Eve Bunting has crafted a stand-out story in The Cart That Carried Martin with illustrations by Don Tate, one that children will always want to read when they learn about the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The understated poignance and significance of this picture book are not lost on adults either, many of whom will recall Dr. King’s funeral on April 9, 1968.

The Cart That Carried Martin opens with an illustration of an old cart for sale in front of an antique shop, Cook’s Antiques and Stuff. Two men decide they’ll borrow the cart and return it after they’ve used it. Its paint was faded, but friends painted it green.

“It’s the color of grass when it rains,” a woman said.

“He would like that,” said a man.

These types of short, subtle sentences full of meaning are what appealed to me the most when reading the book. The marriage of Tate’s muted watercolors and Bunting’s powerful yet understated language work so well in this picture book about an old cart destined to carry the coffin of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for his Atlanta funeral procession. The cart was attached to two mules, a symbol of freedom recalled one stander-by. “Each slave got a mule and forty acres when he was freed.” Everywhere, crowds gathered, people wept and remembered.

Along his funeral procession, Martin’s widow followed the cart as it made its way from the first funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church to the second service at Morehouse College. The mules, Belle and Ada, pulled so much more than a borrowed cart. The cart they pulled contained the coffin of a man who changed history. One of my favorite illustrations is of two wagon wheels in the foreground and Georgia’s state capitol building in the background with throngs of people watching, many mourners holding hands, singing songs or standing quietly to pay their respect. “Sometimes they stood in holy silence, and the only sound was the rumble of wooden wheels.” This newly painted green cart carrying King’s funeral casket was symbolic in that it was simple yet sturdy and strong enough to transport an almost larger than life individual named Martin Luther King, Jr. to his final resting place.

Interior spread from The Cart That Carried Martin by Eve Bunting — Interior illustration from The Cart That Carried Martin written by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Don Tate, Charlesbridge

Though he was born on January 15, 1929, we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the third Monday of January every year. Back matter in The Cart That Carried Martin includes a color photograph of the cart that can now be seen at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site as well as a brief summary of King’s life.