Friday, September 5, 2025

At Last She Stood by Erin Entrada Kelly - OPTIONAL

At Last She Stood: How Joey Guerrero Spied, Survived, and Fought for Freedom by Erin Entrada Kelly, 208 pages. NON-FICTION HarperCollins, 2025. $20. 

Language: G (0 swears 0 'f'); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (mild war violence, peril, photoes of people with Hansen's Disease)

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - OPTIONAL 

APPEALS TO: SOME 

At the beginning of WWII, Joey Guerrero, a Philipino woman was diagnosed with Hansen's Disease (formerly known as leprocy) When Pearl Harbor was attacked, so were the Phillippines, which came under Japanese control. Joey joined a guerrilla force in Manila hoping to do her part to help her people. She was a spy, a courrier, and a brave woman. 

Not much is known about Guerrero, so Entrada Kelly has filled in the gaps with general info about WWII, the war against the Japanese, an internment camp in Manila, sanitariums, racism, other characters, religion, MacArthur and a lot more. After the war, Joey story shifts to her fight to manage and help learn more about treatments for Hansen's Disease as she emigrates to Lousinana, changes her names and continues her life in the United States. So much content NOT about Josephina Guerrero, and so many sides stories about other people doing the same thing. Not entirely biography, only half WWII, I fear it might be a bit much for middle school readers. Includes index, pictures, a bibliography and further resources. 

Lisa Librarian

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