Lights! Camera! Alice!

September 1, 2018

K-Gr 4-As YouTube and Netflix continue to shape how we tell stories, young students will be delighted to find a filmmaking trailblazer in Rockliff and Ciraolo's delightful picture book about Alice Guy-Blanché. As an assistant in a camera shop, story-loving Guy-Blanché saw a unique opportunity to help sell a new-fangled product: the moving-picture camera. Rather than document life, Guy-Blanché reimagined it by using film to tell stories and to further innovate techniques in special effects, color, and sound. The potentially grim story of a qualified and talented women being squeezed out by men as the film industry consolidated is balanced by buoyant text and lively illustrations. Rockliff's alternating smooth and staccato prose mirrors a movie-watching experience by soothing and jolting readers every few moments. Ciraolo's engaging illustrations complement their subject matter. Title cards-taken from Guy-Blanché's films-divide the stages of her life, and the arrangement of the illustrations mimics stills, storyboards, and cinematographic shots. The book ends on an open, uncertain note, wherein the intrepid filmmaker boldly writes a memoir she's not sure anyone will read. Thankfully, an afterword provides additional historical context about the "rediscovery" of Alice Guy-Blanché during her later life. A bibliography directs curious readers towards further discovery. VERDICT Subtly STEM, fun, and beautiful to look at, this take on Alice Guy-Blanché's life encourages kids to engage with cutting-edge technology and to innovate in new fields. A winning addition to most collections.-Katherine Magyarody, Texas A&M University, College Station

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2018
Grades K-3 Though the subtitle of Rockliff's newest biography touts Alice Guy-Blach� as the first woman filmmaker, some consider her the first filmmaker period; yet, her name is considerably less well-known than film pioneers Georges M�li�s and the Lumi�re brothers. Rockliff sets the record straight as she reveals Alice's innovative use of a newfangled camera to tell entertaining stories through moving pictures. Ciraolo cleverly folds early movie elements into her illustrations: title cards introduce the different chapters of Alice's life; sequenced frames resemble movie stills; and the light from a projector cuts through an ink-black page. Film history rolls alongside Alice's career, moving from silent pictures to talkies to the rise of Hollywood, which ultimately shuttered Alice's own New York studio. Alice's love of stories mirrors Rockliff's own, and her author's note explains how the filmmaker was essentially edited out of film history simply because she was a woman. Young readers will be surprised that someone (Alice) had to think of using actors, sets, and costumes when making movies, and they'll undoubtedly be inspired by her moxie.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
"Mother of the Movies," filmmaker Alice Guy-Blachi pioneered the creation of fictional films with sound. In this fast-paced biography, Rockliff's storytelling mimics the adventure-filled movies her subject loved; silent-film title cards (cleverly based on Guy-Blachi film titles) divide the narrative. Ciraolo's action-packed dry-media illustrations feature unexpected coloring and surprising perspectives. A "Director's Cut" offers further information and a film list. Bib.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from September 1, 2018

K-Gr 4-As YouTube and Netflix continue to shape how we tell stories, young students will be delighted to find a filmmaking trailblazer in Rockliff and Ciraolo's delightful picture book about Alice Guy-Blanch�. As an assistant in a camera shop, story-loving Guy-Blanch� saw a unique opportunity to help sell a new-fangled product: the moving-picture camera. Rather than document life, Guy-Blanch� reimagined it by using film to tell stories and to further innovate techniques in special effects, color, and sound. The potentially grim story of a qualified and talented women being squeezed out by men as the film industry consolidated is balanced by buoyant text and lively illustrations. Rockliff's alternating smooth and staccato prose mirrors a movie-watching experience by soothing and jolting readers every few moments. Ciraolo's engaging illustrations complement their subject matter. Title cards-taken from Guy-Blanch�'s films-divide the stages of her life, and the arrangement of the illustrations mimics stills, storyboards, and cinematographic shots. The book ends on an open, uncertain note, wherein the intrepid filmmaker boldly writes a memoir she's not sure anyone will read. Thankfully, an afterword provides additional historical context about the "rediscovery" of Alice Guy-Blanch� during her later life. A bibliography directs curious readers towards further discovery. VERDICT Subtly STEM, fun, and beautiful to look at, this take on Alice Guy-Blanch�'s life encourages kids to engage with cutting-edge technology and to innovate in new fields. A winning addition to most collections.-Katherine Magyarody, Texas A&M University, College Station

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.