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A review by booksenvogue
Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx/La Juez Que Creció En El Bronx by Jonah Winter
5.0
For a children's literature homework assignment, I evaluated Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx by Jonah Winter. Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx/La juez que creció en el Bronx is Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s life story rising from humble beginnings with a lovingly devoted mother to her confirmation as the first Latina woman on the Supreme Court. This book offers a representation of Latino/Latina culture in this non-fiction bilingual children's picture book biographical adaptation of a first-generation Puerto Rican immigrant. As with every book that crosses my path, I looked closer with a critical eye for authenticity. Per the Guidelines for Evaluating Diversity in Children's Books, below are my notes:
Accurate representation of cultural specifics: Puerto Rico is named explicitly as the unincorporated territory of the United States origence for the protagonist's parents where appropriate. The storyline ranges from the mid 1950's to the modern-day, yet the style of dress does not reflect any distinguishable silhouettes or fashion staples to accurately represent time period. Unfortunately, Sonia Sotomayor's childhood pictures available online show better era-appropriate dress than this book. Yet, each pictured setting includes details according to with the textual settings. The intergenerational values of family, respect, education, language, and pride, prevalent in the culture, were depicted except for religion.
Avoidance of stereotypes: While this story mainly chronicles a single character's life, the supporting characters were depicted as individuals. From the white male doctor's visit to the meeting with Black male and former President Barak Obama, the protagonist was shown with a few supporting characters of diverse skin tones and ethnicities. The variety of activities included family time, studying, and daily activities. From aspirations to be a detective to becoming a judge, the protagonist did not perform activities traditionally thought of as male or female activities. Instead, she behaved in ways that more accurately represent the contemporary diversity of roles.
Achievement: The protagonist was shown to be resourceful in overcoming her childhood diabetes medical limitations of being a detective to aspiring to be a judge. She later overcame her loneliness, isolation, and homesickness in college by immersing herself in her studies and leading a campus Latinx student social organization. She proved capable of solving her own problems. With the mother and later president's exception, not many authority figures were depicted or presented to support diversity in ethnicity and gender. Again with the centering on the protagonist and her single-parent household in the beginning, the presentation of power dynamics equally distributed among characters of various ethnicities and genders remained void.
Author/Illustrator: With a seemingly white American male author and Cuban-born illustrator, neither come from the culture depicted. In comparison to the biography on the Oyez Supreme Court, there is evidence that sufficient research has been done regarding the portrayal of the real-life Sonia Sotomayor. In fact, the lengthy author’s note fills in more biographical detail. I downloaded an ebook copy of the book to read it in its entirety. The facts mirror those on the Oyez. I was unable to locate reviews for information not already provided in the author's note.
Copyright Date: This title was published November 10th 2009 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers and addresses cultural issues of childhood poverty and adult racist accusations with contemporary sensibilities. It also highlights the feat of accomplishing the first seat as a Latina woman.
Sensibility: The book portrays a health, wealth, and race struggle between a minority character and the dominant culture. It doesn't really address the weight to the conflict, and the minority character's right to justice, more so explain how she overcame her obstacles.
Language: Language was my biggest qualm because there are so many nuances to the Spanish language. Dialects vary by the country and shift even more with locations of immigration concentrations. I specifically sought Español Puertorriqueño (the dialect of Spanish in Puerto Rico) versus Castilian (Standard Spanish used in Spain). While the translation was good, it was a very neutral Spanish (Castilian). The author primarily used Castilian with just a few Español Puertorriqueño words that are traditionally from Puerto Rico. For example, chavitos ( money/coins), arroz y habichuelas ( habichuelas = beans) (In other countries, beans are called differently), and Ay bendito (a very puerto rican saying meaning like poor thing or like southern people would say “ bless your heart” but it could be used in different ways). And of course, there were other influences of New York migration that I may have missed with no context of the area.
Overall I feel this was an inspiring portrayal of a New York woman and first generation immigrant of Puerto Rican decent. In fact, it received Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s seal of approval among the raves and reviews on the publisher’s website, “Although I grew up in very modest and challenging circumstances, I consider my life to be immeasurably rich” (Sotomayor,2009). I feel this story will resonate with Latinx immigrant children.
References:
Harkless, R. [Rosaland Harkless]. (2018, September 29). Sonia Sotomayor a judge grows in the Bronx. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/17WoheBNFCI
Sotomayor, S. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved December 1, 2020, from https://www.oyez.org/justices/sonia_sotomayor
Sotomayor, S. (2009). Raves and Reviews. Sonia Sotomayor a judge grows in the Bronx /La juez que creció en el Bronx. Retrieved from https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sonia-Sotomayor/Jonah-Winter/9781442403031
Accurate representation of cultural specifics: Puerto Rico is named explicitly as the unincorporated territory of the United States origence for the protagonist's parents where appropriate. The storyline ranges from the mid 1950's to the modern-day, yet the style of dress does not reflect any distinguishable silhouettes or fashion staples to accurately represent time period. Unfortunately, Sonia Sotomayor's childhood pictures available online show better era-appropriate dress than this book. Yet, each pictured setting includes details according to with the textual settings. The intergenerational values of family, respect, education, language, and pride, prevalent in the culture, were depicted except for religion.
Avoidance of stereotypes: While this story mainly chronicles a single character's life, the supporting characters were depicted as individuals. From the white male doctor's visit to the meeting with Black male and former President Barak Obama, the protagonist was shown with a few supporting characters of diverse skin tones and ethnicities. The variety of activities included family time, studying, and daily activities. From aspirations to be a detective to becoming a judge, the protagonist did not perform activities traditionally thought of as male or female activities. Instead, she behaved in ways that more accurately represent the contemporary diversity of roles.
Achievement: The protagonist was shown to be resourceful in overcoming her childhood diabetes medical limitations of being a detective to aspiring to be a judge. She later overcame her loneliness, isolation, and homesickness in college by immersing herself in her studies and leading a campus Latinx student social organization. She proved capable of solving her own problems. With the mother and later president's exception, not many authority figures were depicted or presented to support diversity in ethnicity and gender. Again with the centering on the protagonist and her single-parent household in the beginning, the presentation of power dynamics equally distributed among characters of various ethnicities and genders remained void.
Author/Illustrator: With a seemingly white American male author and Cuban-born illustrator, neither come from the culture depicted. In comparison to the biography on the Oyez Supreme Court, there is evidence that sufficient research has been done regarding the portrayal of the real-life Sonia Sotomayor. In fact, the lengthy author’s note fills in more biographical detail. I downloaded an ebook copy of the book to read it in its entirety. The facts mirror those on the Oyez. I was unable to locate reviews for information not already provided in the author's note.
Copyright Date: This title was published November 10th 2009 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers and addresses cultural issues of childhood poverty and adult racist accusations with contemporary sensibilities. It also highlights the feat of accomplishing the first seat as a Latina woman.
Sensibility: The book portrays a health, wealth, and race struggle between a minority character and the dominant culture. It doesn't really address the weight to the conflict, and the minority character's right to justice, more so explain how she overcame her obstacles.
Language: Language was my biggest qualm because there are so many nuances to the Spanish language. Dialects vary by the country and shift even more with locations of immigration concentrations. I specifically sought Español Puertorriqueño (the dialect of Spanish in Puerto Rico) versus Castilian (Standard Spanish used in Spain). While the translation was good, it was a very neutral Spanish (Castilian). The author primarily used Castilian with just a few Español Puertorriqueño words that are traditionally from Puerto Rico. For example, chavitos ( money/coins), arroz y habichuelas ( habichuelas = beans) (In other countries, beans are called differently), and Ay bendito (a very puerto rican saying meaning like poor thing or like southern people would say “ bless your heart” but it could be used in different ways). And of course, there were other influences of New York migration that I may have missed with no context of the area.
Overall I feel this was an inspiring portrayal of a New York woman and first generation immigrant of Puerto Rican decent. In fact, it received Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s seal of approval among the raves and reviews on the publisher’s website, “Although I grew up in very modest and challenging circumstances, I consider my life to be immeasurably rich” (Sotomayor,2009). I feel this story will resonate with Latinx immigrant children.
References:
Harkless, R. [Rosaland Harkless]. (2018, September 29). Sonia Sotomayor a judge grows in the Bronx. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/17WoheBNFCI
Sotomayor, S. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved December 1, 2020, from https://www.oyez.org/justices/sonia_sotomayor
Sotomayor, S. (2009). Raves and Reviews. Sonia Sotomayor a judge grows in the Bronx /La juez que creció en el Bronx. Retrieved from https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sonia-Sotomayor/Jonah-Winter/9781442403031