Daniel Duncan

Very interesting biography, definitely for older children. The story was great and well-paced. The information was pulled from different sources and the author's note does clarify more details and gives extra context for those interested.

Honestly, I thought it was a great book for those with children interested in history. This is also a good book to show the struggles of discrimination against women in the past (even though it still exists today) and how through not giving up, you can prevail. That being said, it could also just be a book about not giving up in general and staying true to who you are despite not exactly fitting in.

4/5 Cute story, great illustrations. Loved it for little history lovers and even not so little ones.… (plus d'informations)

"Beatrice Shilling wasn't quite like other children. She preferred tools to sweets": a double-page spread shows Beatrice outside a hardware store with a shiny new tool in hand, while other children look in the window of a candy shop. As Beatrice was born in 1909 in England, it was an uphill battle to become an engineer, but Beatrice had help and support along the way - often from other women. Still, she faced discrimination in school, during her job hunt, and at work, where she truly could fix anything - including Spitfires and Hurricanes during WWII.

See also: Rosie Revere, Engineer and The Most Magnificent Thing… (plus d'informations)

When a lonely fisherman finds an injured bird on his boat, he nurses his avian visitor back to health, enjoying his company in the process, and forming a bond of true friendship with him. As the bird heals, the fisherman realizes that his boat is no proper home, and he heads south, setting sail in order to find his winged companion a new land...

A debut from London-based author/illustrator Daniel Duncan, South put me in mind of a number of other recent picture-books I have read, from Marianne Dubuc's poignant The Lion and the Bird, about a lion who nurses an injured bird back to health, to Benji Davies' The Storm Whale, about a young fisherman's son who rescues and then liberates a stranded whale. Tales of rescuing injured and/or endangered animals, and then setting them free at the proper time, seem quite popular in the world of picture-books these days. However that may be, while the story here was engaging enough, it was the artwork that had the strongest appeal for me. I enjoyed the visuals, from the decorative end-papers to the details of the boat interiors. Recommended to anyone looking for children's stories that encourage a humane and responsible course of action, when interacting with injured wildlife.… (plus d'informations)