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Book review: The Angel of Santo Tomas



Book review of The Angel of Santo Tomas: The Story of Fe del Mundo

Written and illustrated by Tammy Yee

Published by Tumblehome Books


This picture book biography of 20th century Filipina pediatrician Fe del Mundo tells an inspiring true story about a person young readers will be able to relate to, as opposed to a story about someone adults will recognize. Fe del Mundo begins the book as a young girl in mourning for an older sister, deciding to take her sister's dream of becoming a doctor as her own, in memory of and honor of her sister. She excels at her studies and later immigrates to the United States, becoming the first woman and first person of Asian descent to attend Harvard. She leaves the US during World War II to return to the Philippines, where she invents an incubator and convinces authorities to move orphan children out of a prison camp into a home where she can care for them. After the war, she opens the first pediatric hospital in the country.

The book includes a map, timeline, and short bibliography. The text is accessible and the illustration style will attract young readers. This book definitely fills a gap in children's literature featuring Philippino subjects and themes, and the biography subject, Fe del Mundo, is unlikely to be covered by other volumes in existing collections. Additionally, a volume on Fe del Mundo, a woman of color with a profession recognizable to young children, will be an easy fit into most elementary biography collections or "heroes and heroines" units of study. 

The quality of the illustrations and the writing elevate this volume above most serial biographies for elementary, and even when compared to other standalone picture book biographies, "The Angel of Santo Tomas" is a solid selection. There is a good balance in the text between factual details and narrative momentum. It will work well both as a read-aloud and a student research tool. Most importantly, children who ask for books about Filipino culture & history will have a fresh option that goes beyond feasts & holidays. 

Comments

  1. MiaJanuary 31, 2024 at 7:19 AM

    Thanks so much for joining us for Read Your World Day 2024 and for this terrific review!

    ReplyDelete

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