Kid Konnection: Turning Pages

Summary: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor tells her own story for young readers for the very first time!

As the first Latina Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor has inspired young people around the world to reach for their dreams. But what inspired her? For young Sonia, the answer was books! They were her mirrors, her maps, her friends, and her teachers. They helped her to connect with her family in New York and in Puerto Rico, to deal with her diabetes diagnosis, to cope with her father’s death, to uncover the secrets of the world, and to dream of a future for herself in which anything was possible.

In Turning Pages, Justice Sotomayor shares that love of books with a new generation of readers, and inspires them to read and puzzle and dream for themselves. Accompanied by Lulu Delacre’s vibrant art, this story of the Justice’s life shows readers that the world is full of promise and possibility–all they need to do is turn the page. -- Philomel

TURNING PAGES: MY LIFE STORY by Sonia Sotomayor and illustrated by Lulu Delacre is a picture book aimed at children 4 - 8 years old, although I'd argue that it's a wonderful book if you are interested in learning anything about Sonia Sotomayor. The illustrations are lovely too -- full of color a and the perfect complement to Justice Sotomayor's story. I do want to mention that this picture book is definitely geared towards older kids (honestly, I'm not sure my four year olds would have sat through it) because it has quite a bit of text on each page for a picture book.

TURNING PAGES is really quite interesting. I had no idea about Justice Sotomayor's background beyond a few highlights. I knew she was the first Latina Supreme Court Justice and I knew she grew up in the Bronx; however, I liked learning some of the details of her childhood like that she lost her father at a young age and that she learned she had diabetes at age seven.

However, what I loved the most about TURNING PAGES is that this book celebrates Justice Sotomayor's life-long love affair with books. I absolutely loved how she talked about the books she loved as a child and how they affected her. And the words she used to describe her feelings were beautiful. For example, here's what she said about books after she learned she needed daily shots to manage her diabetes:

Books, it seemed, were magic potions that could fuel me with the bravery of superheroes.

Here's another way she described books:

Books were my loyal friends. They made it so I never felt lonely.

She has lovely prose like this on almost every page spread where she describes the power of books. To a book lover like me, these words were absolutely spot on... and so quotable!

TURNING PAGES: MY LIFE STORY is a wonderful glimpse into the amazing life of Sonia Sotomayor, but it's also a tribute to books! Highly recommended!

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of the book.

If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to grab the little button too!