A Queen to the Rescue: The Story of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah

Written by Nancy Churnin; illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg

(Creston; 32 pages; $18.99; ages 5-11)

The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorates how Queen Esther, wife of a Persian king, saves her people from annihilation around 480 B.C. when a government official wants to kill all the Jews. Fast-forward 2,500 years. Baltimore-born Henrietta Szold draws inspiration from that biblical queen to also live a life of courage and compassion, recalled here in an outstanding biography. Szold starts night schools for Jewish immigrants; publishes Jewish books; founds Hadassah, a women’s organization to improve conditions in preWorld War I Palestine; sees to the rescue of children during World War II; and finds homes for orphans afterward. She never marries or has children of her own but thousands call her Ima, Hebrew for “mom.” Affecting art in the style of Marc Chagall accommodates both the suffering and joy that propel Szold to service. Note: Hadassah has grown to be a world-class research and medical center in Jerusalem, open to all.

In 1948, on her first day in France, Julia Child has “the most exciting meal of my life.” The food is so aromatic, so delicious that she determines to learn to cook it herself. The rest is history, lovingly recalled by her grandnephew. (He co-authored her autobiography.) Lively digital art, infused with French flair, helps chronicle the decade to follow. Living in Paris with her new husband, the emergent gourmand tastes foods of all kinds, reads French cookbooks in bed, enrolls at the Cordon Bleu (the first woman to do so), learns to source the best products and eventually co-founds a cooking school for Americans in Paris. There, this charming book stops — prologue to Child’s future success as a cookbook writer and TV personality. Her passion for cooking changed the way Americans think about food and life: They can both be fun.

Mary Wilkins Ellis gets her pilot’s license in 1933 — at 16, the youngest in Britain to do so. She then flies as a hobby until grounded at the start of World War II. Ellis wants to help the war effort, but what to do? This high-spirited biography tells how she comes to ferry brand-new planes from factories to airfields throughout the country. She is unflappable, flying low without instruments, sometimes doing 15 runs a day, often with no training in new planes. Personal anecdotes heighten interest and lead into the quieter but busy postwar years, also spent in aviation — as a Royal Air Force trainer, air taxi owner and airfield manager. McCully, known for her watercolors of feisty girls, successfully adds fighter planes to her repertoire. This engaging biography is also about a life of fortuitous confluence — pleasure and purpose, adventure and avocation.