No Truth Without Ruth: The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Kathleen Krull
Published by HarperCollins on February 27th 2018
ISBN: 0062560115
Pages: 48
Goodreads

The latest picture book biography in a string of books about the fiery, level-headed Supreme Court Justice who always keeps civil rights and equality at the heart of her decisions. While the tone of the book is admiring, and while there cannot really be too many books about RBG, this book falls flat. There is a lot of text on each page and the emboldened words on many of the pages feels forced. The catchphrase of the title is true in the same way that there is no ‘i’ in ‘team’, but RBG has fought for equality and justice, and those are different concepts than “truth” which can seem subjective and situational.

The opening of the book places RBG among many other courageous, strong, influential women, but to blankly state that women are not still treated unfairly today is a gross overstatement. I would definitely prefer that the message our young readers/listeners hear be that women are valued today, but there was other more careful, positive language that could have been used to emphasize Ginsberg’s important place in history.

The biography emphasizes how much Ruth’s childhood and adolescent experiences impacted her life path. Being both Jewish and a female, Ginsberg was discriminated against time and again. She had to fight harder for everything that she achieved. The book hardly mentions her personal life except in a strange montage about some of the activities in which she partook (parasailing, horseback riding, water skiing), instead focusing on how her righteous indignation led to some of her biggest court cases (and dissenting arguments). The list of these hard-won moments of fairness are included in the end papers as is the process by which the Supreme Court has a case land on its bench. Not an essential purchase.  

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth