.... They Saw the Future:Oracles, psychics, scientists, great thinkers, and pretty good guessers
AWARDS
1999 Booklist Editor's Choice
New York Public Library Best 100 Books of 1999
a 1999 Parents’ Choice Recommendation
Parents’ Guide to Children’s Media Award
Voya’s Best Nonfiction of 1999REVIEWS
“This fascinating title should appeal to anyone interested in how others have seen the future.”
-- School Library Journal“Krull takes a sweeping chronological journey through time, from ancient Greece to modern day, to focus on a few of history’s seers….The writing is wonderfully lively, the information fascinating, and the design attractive…. Even readers older than the target audience will enjoy browsing this one.”
--Booklist“Krull’s engaging conversational narrative places this tantalizing subject within a larger socio-historical context, and her use of the present tense plants us firmly within the living conditions and mores of earlier civilizations. Krull peppers her breezy prose with “by-the-way” tidbits…. Intriguing questions (“Did [Jules] Verne really see the future, or were his fictional descriptions so detailed that people used them as blueprints?”) will challenge readers and inspire further exploration of the subjects.”
--Horn Book“Krull’s style is as compelling as her material…. Remaining healthily skeptical throughout, Krull chronicles both the seers’ hits (e.g., Jeane Dixon’s vision of JFK’s assassination) and their misses (Dixon said China would start WW III in 1958)…. A safe prediction: readers won't be able to tear themselves away.”
--Publishers Weekly“While artist Brooker’s mysterious collages are a decided plus, this is primarily a lively text compendium for older readers on the oracles, psychics, scientists, great thinkers and pretty-good guessers who, throughout history, have surprised, awed, and sometimes scared us with their prognostications. A Parents’ Choice Recommendation.”
--Selma G. Lanes, Parents’ Choice“Krull, adept at these longitudinal looks at historic themes, is clear in her writing, humorous in tone, and gifted at choosing details that children will enjoy.”
-- Children’s Literature“Here is a novel book, one for those wanting something ‘slightly different’…. This is a fascinating read….This worthwhile, readable book may be read in total or by chapters for those interested in a particular time period, particular psychics, and specific predictions.”
-- Alan ReviewsSalon’s “Mothers Who Think” column about this book
http://www.salon.com/mwt/wild/1999/06/22/future/index.htmlSeattle Post-Intelligencer interview with Kathleen Krull about this book
http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/oracles.htmAPPROXIMATELY 38 THINGS TO DO WITH BIOGRAPHIES IN THE CLASSROOM
