* "Fascinating. . . . A superb snapshot of an adventurer."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"A swashbuckling adventure."—School Library Journal
"Enthralling."—Publishers Weekly
* "A compelling narrative with important facts."—School Library Connection, starred review
"With a focus on mystery, peril, and adventure, this inviting biography should easily pique the curiosity of the elementary-school set."—Booklist
An Amazon Best Book of the Year
Praise for Greg Pizzoli's Tricky Vic:
Selected for The New York Times ten Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2015
Selected for Amazon's Best Books of the Year list
Selected for the American Library Association's Notable Children's Books List
"Splendid. . . . Loaded with facts but with good storytelling and high-level illustration. . . . I’m thrilled that Pizzoli has chosen to present [Tricky Vic's] story so compellingly to our nation’s children."—The New York Times
"Intriguing."—The Wall Street Journal
"What a con job! I mean that in the best possible way. Vic was tricky but so is Greg Pizzoli. His storytelling and mixed-media artwork is rendered with expert sleight of hand."—Lane Smith, author/illustrator of It's a Book and the Caldecott Honor book Grandpa Green
"It's hard enough to make a well-told story out of real-life things—it’s almost unfair that he could also make it this pretty."—Jon Klassen, author and illustrator of the Caldecott Medal winner This Is Not My Hat
* "An appealingly colorful, deadpan account of a remarkably audacious and creative criminal."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* "What a fabulous story."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review
04/01/2017
Gr 2–5—Percy Fawcett dreamed of being an explorer from the time he was a young child in the 1860s; the accounts of his explorer father and brother fueled his enthusiasm. Even his stint in the British Army in Sri Lanka afforded him the opportunity to investigate local jungles. On Fawcett's return home, he began training through the Royal Geographical Society, learning, for instance, which plants were poisonous and which were not. The Society hired him to map areas of Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru, including some of the most dangerous regions of the Amazon rain forest. Fawcett kept coming home safe and finding a new trip to lead. Throughout, he heard rumors of a fantastic ancient city reportedly deep in the Amazon area, a ruin he wanted to locate. So off he went in April 1925, with his 21-year-old son and another young man. Fawcett sold his story to a newspaper and promised regular reports so the papers could bring "live" news to their readers. This offering is for daring readers who prefer nonfiction: there's an unknown explorer to pique their interest, great back matter to demonstrate how to deepen their research, and Pizzoli's clever, humorous illustrations. However, this is very much a tale of British colonialism and will likely need to be supplemented with further discussions. VERDICT A swashbuckling adventure for large elementary school and nonfiction collections.—Dorcas Hand, formerly at Annunciation Orthodox School, Houston
★ 2017-03-29
Pizzoli resurrects an early-20th-century mystery in this riveting portrait of Percy Fawcett, a renowned British explorer who vanished during an ill-fated hunt for a "lost" city.Shortly following an early life of military service to the British Empire, Fawcett dived deep into a career of adventuring. He trained for a year with the Royal Geographical Society, a prominent research center based in London, before the organization began to send him out on expeditions into South America between the years of 1906 and 1924. Pizzoli devotes the first half of Fawcett's tale to building the latter's legend, expertly drawing from Fawcett's thrilling brushes with wildlife and local populations to bring to life the formidable explorer. (An encounter involving a giant anaconda is presented via minimalist illustrations both terrifying and brilliant in scope.) Throughout his various research excursions, Fawcett heard tales of a mythical city deep in the Amazon rain forest. Naming the city "Z," Fawcett soon embarked on what turned out to be his final known expedition, and his subsequent disappearance went on to capture the public's imagination. As in the author's previous gem (Tricky Vic, 2015), the strikingly matte, mixed-media pictures ooze personality and perfectly complement the succinct text and informational sidebars. Predictably, Fawcett's story features a cast of light-skinned characters, with a few brown-skinned individuals included to represent the invisible local populations; his failure to "conquer" in the end represents a fascinating twist on the usual narrative of imperialism. A superb snapshot of an adventurer. (author's note, appendix, glossary, selected sources) (Picture book/biography. 7-12)