Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx/La juez que crecio en el Bronx

Before Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor took her seat in our nation's highest court, she was just a little girl in the South Bronx. Justice Sotomayor didn't have a lot growing up, but she had what she needed — her mother's love, a will to learn, and her own determination. With bravery she became the person she wanted to be. With hard work she succeeded. With little sunlight and only a modest plot from which to grow, Justice Sotomayor bloomed for the whole world to see.

Antes de que la magistrada de la Corte Suprema Sonia Sotomayor llegara al máximo tribunal de nuestra nación, no era más que una niñita en el South Bronx. La magistrada Sotomayor no tuvo mucho durante sus primeros años, pero sí tuvo lo que contaba — el amor de su madre, la voluntad de aprender y su propia determinación. Con valentía se hizo la persona que quería ser. Con trabajo arduo triunfó. Con un poquito de sol en un solarcito donde crecer, la magistrada Sotomayor floreció para que todo el mundo la vea.

Before Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor took her seat in our nation's highest court, she was just a little girl in the South Bronx. Justice Sotomayor didn't have a lot growing up, but she had what she needed -- her mother's love, a will to learn, and her own determination. With bravery she became the person she wanted to be. With hard work she succeeded. With little sunlight and only a modest plot from which to grow, Justice Sotomayor bloomed for the whole world to see.

Antes de que la magistrada de la Corte Suprema Sonia Sotomayor llegara al máximo tribunal de nuestra nación, no era más que una niñita en el South Bronx. La magistrada Sotomayor no tuvo mucho durante sus primeros años, pero sí tuvo lo que contaba -- el amor de su madre, la voluntad de aprender y su propia determinación. Con valentía se hizo la persona que quería ser. Con trabajo arduo triunfó. Con un poquito de sol en un solarcito donde crecer, la magistrada Sotomayor floreció para que todo el mundo la vea.

Publishers Weekly

Winter (Barack) offers an impressionistic, at times repetitive, bilingual biography of Supreme Court justice Sotomayor. The author explains that Sotomayor's mother, raising her two children in the South Bronx, “worked night and day, day and night” to support them and pay their private school tuition after their father died, “leaving just an empty chair and much sadness.” Determined to become a judge, Sotomayor also worked hard: “while other kids may have been goofing off, Sonia was studying at her mother's kitchen table—year after year after year after year.” Though it effectively conveys Sotomayor's personality and accomplishments, Winter's conversational narrative rambles; of her Supreme Court nomination, he writes, “This was huge (Gulp.) There had never been a Latin American on the Supreme Court. How strange this was!” Rodriguez's (Sergio Makes a Splash!) mixed-media illustrations feature chalky textures, gauzy coloring, and sketchy linework, providing competent portraits of Sotomayor and President Obama in a palette of grassy greens and terra cotta that particularly bring to life scenes from her Bronx childhood. An author's note offers additional details about Sotomayor's life. Ages 4–8. (Nov.)

Jonah Winter is the author of two books about baseball, Fair Ball!: 14 Great Stars from Baseball's Negro Leagues and Beisbol! Latino Baseball Pioneers and Legends. He is also the author of Diego, a biography of Diego Rivera, and Frida, about artist Frida Kahlo, which was hailed as "a grand accomplishment, worth celebrating" by the New York Times Book Review and named a 2002 Parents' Choice Gold Medal winner. A poet and a painter, Mr. Winter lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.