4 stars
What a fantastic read! Great for young readers (10 and up) to learn about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the justice system, and the fight for equality. This book does a great job of piecing together important details of Ginsburg’s life and showing how they influenced her later on. Throughout the book, Levy works in actual quotes from writings, appearances, and interviews, which helps add authenticity and deeper understanding to the work.
Levy does a great job making events and details understandable without dumbing them down so much they come off as condescending. The book doesn’t just focus on Ginsburg, but also what was happening in the larger world and how this affected Ginsburg’s perception and experiences. This includes Nazi Germany and Anti-Semitism, Pearl Harbor, life during WWII, the Red Scare and McCarthyism, and the Equal Rights Amendment. It also brings up some of the people who inspired Ginsburg such as Eleanor Roosevelt as well as her own mother and mother-in-law.
Gardner’s illustrations are also wonderful. They are simple as to not take away from the story, but add depth in their details, emotional expression, and use of metaphor to help the reader better understand and picture what is happening in the story.
The material at the end was also helpful. It includes a timeline of Ginsburg’s life, a selected bibliography with more information resources, and citations for quotes pulled for the graphic novel.
An inspiring, insightful, and informative non-fiction read that does not shy away from hard truths and reality. It shows both some of the difficulties of the world such as discrimination as well as how such difficulties can be overcome bit by bit. A wonderful representation of the impact of small changes and how they can come together to progress a larger movement.