Wednesday, May 16, 2018

I am Gandhi by Brad Meltzer - ESSENTIAL

Meltzer, Brad I am Gandhi, illustrated by 25 different artists.  GRAPHIC NOVEL/NON-FICTION  Dial Books (Penguin), 2018. $19. Content: G.  

Gandhi wasn’t a very good student when he was little, but his father was a successful political leader with a good job.  Gandhi went to London to become a lawyer, but when he returned to India he found that he didn’t like arguing cases.  He decided to move to South Africa and try working as a lawyer there, but was surprised to find prejudice, discrimination and injustice towards his fellow Indian people.  Gandhi gathered the Indian people and came up with an ideal called Satyagraha in which his people would peacefully protest against their unfair treatment.  He lived out his life drawing attention to prejudices through peaceful strikes or marches and his ideals later inspired great leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr.  

This is an interesting simplified biography of Gandhi’s influential life.  Each page spread is illustrated by a different artist but all are very appealing and well done.  At the back of the book there is a timeline and real photographs from Gandhi’s life, as well as short biographies about all the artists who contributed.  I do think the different kinds of art caused some inconsistency and distraction to the timeline of the story, but the art is expressive enough that it tells the story in its own way.  

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.

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