Hope Is an Arrow: The Story of Lebanese American Poet Kahlil Gibran by Cory McCarthy

Abstract

Reviewed by: Hope Is an Arrow: The Story of Lebanese American Poet Kahlil Gibran by Cory McCarthy Elizabeth Bush McCarthy, Cory Hope Is an Arrow: The Story of Lebanese American Poet Kahlil Gibran; illus. by Ekua Holmes and with photographs. Candlewick, 2022 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781536200324 $18.99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad 6-10 yrs In this picture book biography of early twentieth-century painter and poet Gibran, McCarthy grounds spiritual and mystical explorations in the story of an introverted immigrant boy, who moved with his mother and siblings from Lebanon to Boston's South End when his father was jailed for political reasons back home. Painting was Gibran's first talent to flourish, and by his late teens he had artwork published, but he eventually expanded his artistic talent to poetry, tapping into his relationships with his family and to his native country. By the time of his death in 1931 he had become one of Lebanon's best-known sons. McCarthy's text can reach a primary grade audience with supplemental adult assistance (there is, for example, no explanation of the struggles of Maronite and Druze religious communities in Lebanon), but despite specifics on Gibran's early years and well-selected and placed quotations from his poetry, the content and popularity of his work are underexplored. Older readers who read the text in tandem with McCarthy's excellent end matter annotations will derive a much fuller picture of character and motivation. Holmes's vibrant collages, replete with Middle Eastern patterns and motifs, easily span these levels of readership, with scenes literal enough for primary-graders and sophisticated enough for middle-graders. A brief bibliography is included. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois