Peace Warriors

June 1, 2013
Grades 5-8 From the Profiles series, this book spotlights six nonviolent activists: Mahatma Gandhi, from India; Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King Jr., from the U.S.; Desmond Tutu, from South Africa; the fourteenth Dalai Lama, from Tibet; and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, from Liberia. Each profile serves as a biography, with special emphasis on the person's challenges, accomplishments, and nonviolent approach to bringing about change. Filling in the background as needed, Pinkney writes clearly about events that are sometimes complex. Although the tone of the book is informational rather than inspirational, many readers will find themselves looking up to the individuals profiled. As in previous series volumes, for example, Freedom's Heroes (2012), there are elements of color in the page design. At least one illustration, usually a period photo, appears on nearly every double-page spread. A compact resource; it's good to have all six of these activists in one place.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)