Publishers Weekly
11/08/2021
Generosity proves contagious in this personal portrait of community service by Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor (Just Ask!). Young Sonia’s mother, a hospital nurse, asks her before school each morning, “How will you help today?” Seeking to “have a good answer for Mami’s question,” the light-skinned child has gathered personal supplies for American soldiers serving overseas. As Sonia and her classmates assemble care packages in the school gym, the work cheers a child whose mother is “stationed far away,” and who in turn gives the plastic shopping bags to a kid who started a plastic bag recycling program at school. Sonia’s classmates, shown as children of varying abilities and skin tones, generate still more ideas via a domino effect of good deeds. Sotomayor concludes by emphasizing the importance of voting: “When I was young, I was part of a great struggle to get the right to vote,” an older Black man tells a pupil who pushes his wheelchair; “Now I never miss the chance.” Digital illustrations by Dominguez (I Love You, Baby Burrito) portray the children and their actions with simplicity and clarity. An author’s letter explains why it’s crucial to understand the world as “one very large neighborhood,” and that’s just what young Sonia and her classmates do in this inspirational volume. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Just Help!:
"Generosity proves contagious in this personal portrait of community service by Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor." —Publishers Weekly
"For use in civics units or in lessons on being a good neighbor, this provides wonderful encouragement to show that children can help in big and small ways." —School Library Journal
School Library Journal
03/01/2022
Gr 1–3—Sonia Sotomayor, the first woman of color to serve on the Supreme Court, encourages readers to be good citizens and community members in this new book. First she recounts her childhood observations of her mother, who was a nurse and would ask young Sonia, "How will you help today?" Sonia decided to help by bringing supplies to school because the students were making care packages for soldiers overseas. This launches a lifetime passion to be of service to others. The book then highlights other friends and their acts of service. Brooklyn helps sea animals, Gabriela and her brother cleanup the playground, Jasper makes toy donations to a children's hospital, and Simone helps campaign for an election. The illustrations are a splash of color and beautiful tapestry of diverse faces and cultures. The message comes back full circle to Sonia and her mother getting ready for bed, and now the answer to her mother's question includes how the bus driver helped her get to school and postal workers delivered packages. This title turns a name in their history books into a warm and relatable presence in children's lives. VERDICT For use in civics units or in lessons on being a good neighbor, this provides wonderful encouragement to show that children can help in big and small ways.—Erin Olsen
Kirkus Reviews
2022-01-25
Young readers learn the value of being helpful.
Every morning, while Sonia (a character who is clearly a young version of Sotomayor herself) eats breakfast, her mother, a nurse, asks “How will you help today?” Sonia, who wants to assist in making her community better and safer, always does her best to have a good answer for Mami. Sonia decides to volunteer to make care packages for American soldiers. She also helps other kids at her school with their various service projects. Readers see how children and adults in Sonia’s neighborhood work together to recycle, clean up a park, donate items to a children’s hospital, and mobilize voters on Election Day. Written by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and inspired by her own childhood, this picture book depicting a cooperative, socially conscious, multicultural neighborhood is nice enough but nothing more. The text is perfectly inoffensive, and the artwork is pleasant, but the narrative never truly inspires or moves beyond a preachy approach that kids will quickly sniff out as patronizing. Well-meaning Democratic voters will purchase this for the children in their lives, who will smile appreciatively before eventually depositing the book in their local Little Free Library six months later. Sonia and Mami are Latinx with light brown skin. Secondary characters are diverse racially and agewise and include wheelchair users and a hijabi girl. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A picture book that at least helps fill the time. (Picture book. 6-8)
