A Picture Book of Florence Nightingale

Children's Literature - Mary Freeman

This biography would not inspire anyone to follow in Florence Nightingale's footsteps. First of all, the drawings are not appealing. All of the faces are similar, making them confusing even with the text. Adler also has left out crucial information. For example, What was she interested in at school? Who in her life (besides God) influenced her decision to become a nurse? No mentors are mentioned. It is not convincing that two years of active duty as a nurse in Crimea made her such an important figure. When she finishes there, the book leaves the predominant impression that she languished at home in ill health, although for the next 50 years she was a tireless writer and activist. Adler could have done her life's story more justice, as she made great contributions to the nursing profession.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3-- While the Wallners' bright, line-and-watercolor pictures will appeal to younger readers, Adler's text is disappointing and at times frustrating; the simple language is often at odds with the more complex story it is trying to convey. Some of the incidents in Nightingale's life are poorly explained, without giving the necessary historical background for children to understand the events fully. It's unlikely that eight-year-olds will understand what exactly Florence detested about being the `` . . . same sort of wife her mother was, . . . `` `making society and arranging domestic things' '' or the importance of her being presented to Queen Victoria. When readers are told that England ``. . . joined in the Crimean War against Russia'' most won't know who they joined or why. There are also puzzling gaps in Nightingale's religious development and her transition from a sheltered Victorian girl to an unconventional, strong-minded woman who transformed her profession and set the standards for modern nursing. As a result, she sounds merely eccentric, even mysterious. A better title, geared to slightly older readers, is Dorothy Turner's Florence Nightingale (Watts, 1986; o.p.). --Cyrisse Jaffee, Newton Public Schools, MA6