Sacajawea, and: Sonia Sotomayor by Kathleen Krull (review)

Biography maven Krull launches a new middle-grades series, Women Who Broke the Rules, for kids just past picture-book biographies. These two titles pose opposite challenges for Krull’s craft—Sacajawea, because so little is known about her, and that bit arrives filtered through the journals of Lewis and Clark; Sotomayor, because so much is known about her (particularly due to Senate confirmation hearings) and must be pared down to a few dozen pages. Thus, much of Sacajawea’s story is expanded with judicious speculation based on the role of women in Shoshone, Hidatsa, and early nineteenth century Anglo-American cultures, and considering how the unlikely adventurer may have approached caring for her newborn while tending to the needs of her male trekkers. Sotomayor’s story, on the other hand, focuses on childhood experiences and dispositions that influenced her goal for a career in law and justice, and the Herculean effort to succeed among the Ivy League set. Short chapters and chatty text will be a welcome boon to report writers, and children’s works noted among the appended sources and further feading lists are useful. However, neither volume can boast of distinguished illustration (Sotomayor’s childlike cartoonishness misses caricature by a mile, and Sacajawea’s glossy, studied poses feel fustily old-fashioned), and Krull is vague about the exact “rules” each of her subjects can be said to have broken, leaving these fairly workmanlike but unremarkable early biographies. Nonetheless, Krull’s engaging narrative style is again on display, and that alone may carry the day.