Becoming RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Journey to Justice

by Debbie Levy (Author) Whitney Gardner (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 6th − 7th Grade

From the New York Times bestselling author of I Dissent comes a biographical graphic novel about celebrated Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a modern feminist icon--a leader in the fight for equal treatment of girls and women in society and the workplace. She blazed trails to the peaks of the male-centric worlds of education and law, where women had rarely risen before.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has often said that true and lasting change in society and law is accomplished slowly, one step at a time. This is how she has evolved, too. Step by step, the shy little girl became a child who questioned unfairness, who became a student who persisted despite obstacles, who became an advocate who resisted injustice, who became a judge who revered the rule of law, who became...RBG.

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Kirkus

"Enlightening, inspiring, and empowering."

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up-Levy once again turns to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whom she profiled in the picture book I Dissent, this time writing a biography of the Supreme Court Justice for the middle and high school set. Juxtaposing Ginsburg's childhood as a Jew in 1930s America with the Nazi uprising in Europe and the proliferation of anti-Semitism, Levy demonstrates how Ginsburg's sense of justice was formed at an early age as young Ruth realized that bigotry can flourish anywhere, even in the United States. Inspiration from heroes such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Ruth's mother, Celia Bader, set Ginsburg on the path to greatness. At Harvard Law, where she was one of only nine female students, she rose to the top of her class, navigating sexism with the support of her unorthodox husband, Marty Ginsburg. Levy expertly makes Ginsburg's landmark court cases relevant to a middle and high school audience. Gardner's minimalist, three-color artwork echoes Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. At times, placement of text bubbles distracts from the flow of the narrative, cutting sentences in half and continuing them on another panel, but overall the illustrations are effective, and Gardner's depiction of Ginsburg is abstract enough that all readers will see themselves in her story. VERDICT Fans of graphic biographies such as Penelope Bagieu´s Brazen or John Lewis's March will appreciate this look at how the "Notorious RBG" came up.-Elise Martinez, Zion-Benton Public Library, IL

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"Enlightening, inspiring, and empowering."—Kirkus Reviews
Debbie Levy
Debbie Levy is the award-winning author of many books of nonfiction and fiction, including the New York Times bestseller I Dissent, This Promise of Change, The Year of Goodbyes, and the young adult novel Imperfect Spiral. She lives in Maryland with her husband. They have two grown sons.

Whitney Gardner is an author, illustrator, and cartoonist. She started drawing stick figures in second grade and somehow no one's been able to stop her. If there's ever a moment when she isn't drawing, she's likely to be found rolling twenty-sided dice. Her favorite color is yellow. She is the author of the YA novels You're Welcome, Universe and Chaotic Good, as well as the creator of Fake Blood and Long Distance and the illustrator for Debbie Levy's Becoming RBG and Stephanie Cooke's The Racc Pack series.
Classification
-
ISBN-13
9781534424555
Lexile Measure
910
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication date
November 05, 2019
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF043000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Social Science | Politics & Government
JNF023000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Girls & Women
JNF062010 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Comics & Graphic Novels | Biography
JNF030000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Law & Crime
Library of Congress categories
-
Little Maverick Reading List
Selection 2021

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