Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954 in New York City. Her parents had come to the United States in 1944 to find a better life in the Bronx. Growing up Sonia was very close to her grandmother and took vacations to Puerto Rico often was she was younger. As a child, Sonia was thirsty all the time, fainted, and lost weight. They soon found that she had Type I diabetes. When she was nine years old, her father died at the age of forty- two from a heart attack. As a child, Sonia watched a show about a lawyer named Perry Mason and wanted to be just like him. She was accepted into three ivy league schools, and attended Princeton on full scholarship. She graduated in June of 1976 and received the highest order a senior could. She married her high school sweet heart and then attended Yale Law School. Sonia was hired by Robert Morgenthau to work in the New York City DA's office. Even though she lost her first case in court she won her second and excelled from their. With all the time devoted to work, Sonia and Kevin grew apart and divorced. In 1984 longing for a change, Sonia took a job ad Pavia & Harcourt law firm. She worked on the Fendi cause seizing fake handbags sold on the street by criminals. She soon moved to a partner in the law firm. In 1992, Congress approved Sonia to be a judge and President George H. W. Bush named her a federal judge in the US District Court of the Southern District of New York.On June 25, 1997, President Clinton wanted to appoint her to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. After she was sworn in Sonia married her mother and her new husband. In 2009, President Barack Obama was considering her for a Supreme Court Justice. On May 25, she was expecting a call from the White House to find out if she was picked. She was called and she was only the third woman and first Hispanic to sit on the court. She needed to be approved by the Senate and after three weeks she was voted into the Supreme Court. Sonia was sworn in and her session started the next day. She was nervous but was going to "jump in, learn fast, and work hard" as she had her whole life. This book was wonderful. I really enjoyed reading this. It gave information on the court, judges, and lawyers when they were mentioned in Sonia's life as well as a timeline, this could be used in a history lesson. Sonia's life is very inspiring to always do your best and follow your dreams and you will get there. ( )

Super informative and really encourages Hispanic and Latina/o students to shoot for the stars! ( )

Have I ever actually read one of these? Hmm, I think I did skim through one, once upon a time. However, since I got this one sent to me for review and the they are super popular, I thought I'd take a look.

This latest title features Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. It covers her early life in the Bronx, her struggles to overcome prejudice due to her race and sex, her personal life, and the many other obstacles she overcame to be named the first Latina Supreme Court Justice.

Simple line drawings add interest and a light touch of humor to this informative, upbeat biography. These titles focus on the positive aspects of the various personalities and generally gloss over controversy or negative aspects of their character (although Sotomayor is pretty controversy-free!)

These biographies have endless appeal to kids, usually 3rd to 5th grade, who will devour them in large stacks. While they do include a lot of traditional biographical subjects (i.e. dead white males) they also include more diverse characters as well.

Verdict: These are a must-have for any library and this latest title is a strong addition to the series. I generally purchase them in paperback and our long-suffering processing staff vistafoils them.

ISBN: 9780451533654; Published 2017 by Grosset & Dunlap; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library