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A review by wordyanchorite
Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx/La Juez Que Creció En El Bronx by Jonah Winter
3.0
This well-intentioned book has the kinds of problems you get when a white male writes a book about a Latina.
Socio-culturally, this book has problems. Aspects of Latino cultures get name-checked, but either they are not explored, or they are explained by comparison to the dominant culture. This has the effect of shutting out the kids who come from the same background as Sotomayor; they are apparently not the intended audience. This book about a Latina from the South Bronx is not really directed at kids who are either Latino or from the South Bronx. (The Spanish translation is pretty weak sauce, too.)
On documenting Sotomayor's start as a judge, the author states with great sincerity that success comes to those who make the most of the opportunities presented to them. This comes shortly after documenting the vast differences in the opportunities available to Sotomayor and her Princeton classmates. I just can't with this, so moving on.
This book's most egregious failures have to do with gender. Justice Sotomayor is a no-nonsense judge. The book makes a point of mentioning this for, like, two sentences. But the rest of the story and illustrations show us a passive, girly Sonia who wears pretty dresses while reading books in the grocery store. One of her major accomplishments, being "the judge who saved baseball", is banished to the author's note; maybe baseball is too masculine? Much is made of her relationship with her mother and of her emotions. The illustration of Obama telling her that she's his nominee has the president standing with his arm around her waist. The controlling imagery, right there in the subtitle and the cover illustration, is of Sotomayor as a delicate exotic flower. That is not the imagery I would have chosen, for sure.
Look, this book tries really hard. It talks about how hard it can be to be poor and brown in America. It just talks about it in a way that seems to minimize Sotomayor's accomplishments and shut out readers like her.
Socio-culturally, this book has problems. Aspects of Latino cultures get name-checked, but either they are not explored, or they are explained by comparison to the dominant culture. This has the effect of shutting out the kids who come from the same background as Sotomayor; they are apparently not the intended audience. This book about a Latina from the South Bronx is not really directed at kids who are either Latino or from the South Bronx. (The Spanish translation is pretty weak sauce, too.)
On documenting Sotomayor's start as a judge, the author states with great sincerity that success comes to those who make the most of the opportunities presented to them. This comes shortly after documenting the vast differences in the opportunities available to Sotomayor and her Princeton classmates. I just can't with this, so moving on.
This book's most egregious failures have to do with gender. Justice Sotomayor is a no-nonsense judge. The book makes a point of mentioning this for, like, two sentences. But the rest of the story and illustrations show us a passive, girly Sonia who wears pretty dresses while reading books in the grocery store. One of her major accomplishments, being "the judge who saved baseball", is banished to the author's note; maybe baseball is too masculine? Much is made of her relationship with her mother and of her emotions. The illustration of Obama telling her that she's his nominee has the president standing with his arm around her waist. The controlling imagery, right there in the subtitle and the cover illustration, is of Sotomayor as a delicate exotic flower. That is not the imagery I would have chosen, for sure.
Look, this book tries really hard. It talks about how hard it can be to be poor and brown in America. It just talks about it in a way that seems to minimize Sotomayor's accomplishments and shut out readers like her.