Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of R.B.G. vs. Inequality

by Jonah Winter, Stacy Innerst (Illustrator)

Overview

A ​New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2017
An ALA/ALSC Notable Children's Book

To become the first female Jewish Supreme Court Justice, the unsinkable Ruth Bader Ginsburg had to overcome countless injustices. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s and ’40s, Ginsburg was discouraged from working by her father, who thought a woman’s place was in the home. Regardless, she went to Cornell University, where men outnumbered women four to one. There, she met her husband, Martin Ginsburg, and found her calling as a lawyer. Despite discrimination against Jews, females, and working mothers, Ginsburg went on to become Columbia Law School’s first tenured female professor, a judge for the US Court of Appeals, and finally, a Supreme Court Justice.

Structured as a court case in which the reader is presented with evidence of the injustice that Ginsburg faced, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the true story of how one of America’s most “notorious” women bravely persevered to become the remarkable symbol of justice she is today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419725593
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	08/08/2017
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	257,561
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Jonah Winter is the author of more than 30 nonfiction picture books, including Barack and Sonia Sotomayor. He divides his time between Santa Fe and a small town in Pennsylvania.

Stacy Innerst is an illustrator who’s received many awards for his work. He lives in Pittsburgh.

Editorial Reviews

…[a] beautifully illustrated biography of the Supreme Court justice…Innerst makes the pages look gently monumental, like R.B.G. herself.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

★ 07/03/2017
Winter (The Secret Project) and Innerst (The Music in George’s Head) use the frame of a court case to trace the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The evidence of the sexism and discrimination Ginsberg faced is abundant, often described in “exhibits” for readers (“Exhibit F: Even among law firms supposedly open to hiring women, not one firm would hire her. She was a woman, she was Jewish, and she was a mother”). Innerst’s muted palette adds to the retrospective feel of a story that unfolds over several decades; in one striking scene, Ginsburg reads a dissent from the bench while her fellow justices yawn and look away. A valuable and moving account of a woman who, as Winter writes in closing, “has herself become a symbol of justice in America.” Ages 6–9. Illustrator’s agent: Susan Cohen, Writers House. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Innerst’s digital gouache-and-ink illustrations are as matter-of-fact as the text, clearly offering up facts that showcase what Ruth faced throughout her life. A smart, sometimes biting biography that proves it’s never too early to start teaching kids about justice."

Booklist

"The muted tones of the illustrations, rendered in gouache, ink, and Photoshop, complement the text."

International Literacy Association

**STARRED REVIEW**
"Innerst’s digital gouache-and-ink illustrations are as matter-of-fact as the text, clearly offering up facts that showcase what Ruth faced throughout her life. A smart, sometimes biting biography that proves it’s never too early to start teaching kids about justice."

Booklist

08/01/2017
Gr 3 Up—"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: During this trial, you will learn about a little girl who had no clue just how important she would become. You will see the unfair world she was born into—where boys were valued more than girls, where women were not encouraged to achieve and aspire…Here are the facts of her case." Thus begins this clever, engaging picture book biography, which chronicles Ginsburg's early years in Brooklyn, at Cornell, and beyond, highlighting the obstacles she encountered at every turn. Readers are asked to act as the jury, examining the injustices the young lawyer faced: "Exhibit F: Even among the law firms supposedly open to hiring women, not one firm would hire her. She was a woman, she was Jewish, AND she was a mother." The illustrations, rendered in gouache, ink, and Photoshop, illuminate the text with humor and sophistication. One page features the young college student perched under the sink in the bathroom, secretly studying—everyone knew a smart, studious girl would never get asked on a date. Another shows caricatures of the large, black-robed male justices yawning, angry, or perplexed as a tiny Ginsburg reads one of her famous "dissents." The endpapers feature shelves and shelves of books in the same muted tones of the book—cream, pale pink, black, gray, and brown. Pair with Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley's I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark, another fabulous picture book biography on the subject. VERDICT An excellent addition to "Mighty Girl" collections!—Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools

School Library Journal

★ 2017-06-19
How did a book-loving girl grow up to be a Supreme Court justice? "Ladies and gentleman of the jury," the story opens, as a young white girl faces an audience to present evidence on how Ruth Bader Ginsburg experienced an "unfair world" of prejudice against Jews and females. Winter traces Ginsburg's life from birth in Brooklyn in 1933 to college at Cornell and law school at Harvard and Columbia and, ultimately, to the United States Supreme Court, the second woman ever to be appointed. Each step of the way, she faced sexism and exclusion, effectively addressed as courtroom evidence. In exhibit A, she's demoted and forced to take a pay cut in her first job out of college (before law school) due to pregnancy. Exhibit B presents the fact that Harvard Law School had no housing for women since there were only nine of them, and in exhibit C, women couldn't enter the periodicals room—critical for completing coursework. The text, informative without overwhelming, is extended by an author's note describing some of Ginsburg's actual court cases (including her opposition to the Citizen's United decision). Innerst's stunning gouache, ink, and Photoshop illustrations employ an R. Gregory Christie-style of abstraction, from the dust-jacket portrait and the case cover's clever depiction of Ginsburg and the scales of justice to the endpapers full of books, books, books. From cover to cover, a lovingly made volume that succeeds on every level. A beautiful example of what a picture book can be. (glossary) (Picture book/biography. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews