Only 7 authors have won the prestigious Newbery Award - given to the best in children's books every year since 1922 - twice. Erin Entrada Kelly is one of them. So when she writes a new book, you should read it! I do, for sure! At Last She Stood is her latest offering, but a change for Kelly, as this new book is non-fiction. A biography, in fact, of a Filipino woman named Josefina Guerrero, someone I had never heard of, but like most people written about in biographies, someone I am glad to know now!
"Joey" Guerrero was a guerrilla fighter during World War 2, when Japan attacked the Philippines. She became a war hero. She also had the disease then known as leprosy (now called Hansen's Disease). She was a teacher, a peacemaker, and activist. She would go on to live in the United States, until there was a movement to have her deported back to the Philippines. In short, she lived an incredible life, and was responsible in her bravery for saving the lives of many, many people. As you'll find when you read this book, her life was not easy - in fact, I would describe it as remarkably difficult. Yet she stood...she persevered!
That said, this is maybe my least favorite Kelly book. I love the main character and learning about her, someone I never knew about before. But unlike Kelly's award-winning fiction books, At Last She Stood was a bit...clunky. Several times facts were repeated from one paragraph or page to the next. Maybe she meant to do that as a way to really imbed the facts into the reader's mind, but I found it to be messy. I don't need the same piece of information over and over again, especially not in the same chapter or in the same few pages. I doubt you need that, either. On occasion the story also seemed to jump forward or to another location without explanation or obvious tie-ins. A few times a new name appeared with no explanation of who this person was, or why they were suddenly part of the story.
Not a terrible book, because I don't think Kelly could write a terrible book, with all of her talent! But as much as this dog loves non-fiction, historical fiction and biographies, this was not a favorite. It made me want to see if author Steve Sheinkin has anything new to read, one of my favorite non-fiction writers! I don't want to say this is a bad book, because it isn't, and if you are interested in biographies like I am you might enjoy learning about this amazing woman! But if you are simply looking for your next favorite book, Kelly's other books are better, although fiction, or for non-fiction someone like Sheinkin is much better organized. I'll give this one 3 paws and wag, because of the importance of the subject matter, and I will continue to read everything Kelly writes...but hoping the next one is stronger.
