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BRAVE VOLODYMYR by Linda Elovitz Marshall

BRAVE VOLODYMYR

The Story of Volodymyr Zelensky and the Fight for Ukraine

by Linda Elovitz Marshall ; illustrated by Grasya Oliyko

Pub Date: Oct. 3rd, 2023
ISBN: 978-0063294141
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins

A worshipful profile of Ukraine’s staunch leader.

Joining a flurry of recent biographies of the comedian-turned-president, this paean is light on specific detail and sometimes bends what facts it does offer to present its subject in the brightest of heroic lights—for instance, substituting the ambiguous “supplies” for weapons in a tally of foreign aid that poured into Ukraine after the Russian invasion to create the impression that said aid was entirely humanitarian. The author begins by presenting Volodymyr (without any cited evidence) as a child who “hated lies,” then takes him from early years growing up in a land historically hostile to its Jewish residents to success as a performer. Next, after deciding to emulate a character in one of his own shows who was elected president and run “for real,” he finds himself at the head of a country facing invasion by a much larger one, “like David fighting the giant, Goliath,” and becoming a defender of freedom. Except for images of the Ukrainian flag and a few random colorful highlights, Oliyko’s sketched illustrations run to drab grayscale crowds of small faces and figures. The story and even the timeline at the end cut off in February of 2022, so the content is already significantly out of date. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Appreciative (and properly so), but superficial and dated.

(author’s note, bibliography) (Picture-book biography. 6-9)