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Michelson, Richard

What Louis Brandeis Knows: A Crusader for Social Justice Becomes a Supreme Court Justice

48 pp. | Calkins/Astra | October, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781662680632 $18.99
(2) K-3 This picture-book biography follows Louis Brandeis (1856–1941) from his secular Jewish childhood in ­Kentucky with immigrant parents from Prague through his career as an attorney and up until the moment he became a Supreme Court justice, fighting for equality for all. The story touches on many of his educational experiences both in the United States and when the family moved back to Europe for a time; his career’s focus on the needs and rights of the downtrodden; the ways in which antisemitism affected his life and work; and his devotion to his family. His father features prominently in the form of quips, advice, and truisms (“Any fool knows that all people should be treated equally regardless of their race”) that Brandeis incorporated into his ideals. The serious issues that he fought for included the right to privacy, workers’ rights, and women’s rights, and the author is frank about the fact that Brandeis had his “enemies” and was called a radical, a socialist, a muckraker, and more. The book’s present-tense voice gives the events a sense of immediacy, while the tone and palette of the stylized mixed-media illustrations aptly change from page to page. Extensive back matter places Brandeis’s life in historical context, including descriptions of many of his legal achievements, a timeline, an examination of his legacy, a bibliography, and ­photographs.
Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2025

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