I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark

Speak purposefully and carry a big legal pad.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 1940s Brooklyn neighborhood was filled with the traditional sights and aromas of many different immigrant cultures alongside her Jewish background, but in one respect her life was different. Her mother believed women should pursue

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opportunities outside the traditional ones. Ruth read voraciously in her neighborhood library, but it was on car trips with her family that she was exposed to racial and religious prejudices, effectively communicated with signage in the illustrations. Rebelling against writing with her right hand, the left-handed Ruth went on to earn a law degree—rare for women at that time—and teach law. She made it her mission to fight in the courts for equal rights for women and people of color. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the Supreme Court, the first Jewish woman to sit. In her many opinions, she “sings out for equality.” Levy’s breezy text highlights Ginsburg’s childhood, schooling, family (with a husband as the cook), and career. Baddeley’s mixed-media art is colorful, lively, and retro in feel. The judicious use of large and varied display types throughout the pages emphasizes Ginsburg’s thoughts and actions, often evoking picket signs of protest.

Read this and be inspired to work for justice through the legal system. (author’s note, photographs, notes on Supreme Court cases, bibliography, quotation sources) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)

-Kirkus Review

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