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I am fortunate enough to be sent plenty of books from publishers, and I have (finally) been getting round to them all after a bit of a backlog at the start of the year. One that I find myself being drawn to, time and time again, is this beauty from Duncan Tonatiuh – Soldier for Equality.
At first glance, this looks like a picture book for younger children, but it really isn’t, and my older two who are out of the traditional picture book age have enjoyed this, especially D.
There’s much talk at the moment about the need to diversify bookshelves and that in doing so we might bring about a greater awareness of the inequalities we see others facing. This book is a great starting point for that. It is set during WW1 and follows Jose do la Luz Saenz who was of Mexican heritage but born in the USA. He joined the army and became invaluable to the Intelligence Office in Europe.
But despite his key role, he still faced prejudice and didn’t receive due recognition of his role. Luz was always concerned with fighting for what was right and this comes across time and time again in this book. It feels apt for the times we are in now. It demonstrates that this isn’t a new struggle.
This book is fascinating in so many ways – it takes a time period familiar to many but tells an experience from a perspective many of us will be unfamiliar with. The illustrations have a beautiful simplicity about them that depict the way and Luz’s role within it well. I also really like the author’s note at the back which credits the bits that came straight from Luz’s war time diaries. There’s also timelines and the US’s (and Luz’s) involvement in the war which is useful for children to note when comparing with what they already know about the war (from a British perspective in our case).
As an adult reading this book, I found it a challenge. It challenged me in many ways in terms of approaching a period of history from a new perspective, by bringing some huge issues to the front in a way I’d never really considered before and made me think about how the children might find this book. This is not a picture book for very small children (although there’s never any harm in reading it to them) but more a picture book for older children to read independently and explore some of the big issues it raises.
Duncan has written a few different books and I’ve got a couple of them on the wish list to buy at some stage. I really like the style and presentation of them and the way that challenging issues are presented in easily digestible ways for children.
