Brave Volodymyr: The Story of Volodymyr Zelensky and the Fight for Ukraine

Gr 3-6–This glowing biography of Volodymyr Zelensky will introduce younger readers to the Ukrainian national leader, beginning with his early life, through his college days, career as an entertainer, and to his current role as president of Ukraine. In parallel, readers learn of political events in that country; for example, the election in 2004 that the author says, “was not fair” and the results “were filled with lies.” Marshall also states that Ukraine applied for EU membership so “Ukrainians could live the way people in free European countries lived.” Most elementary students will lack the background knowledge to understand or assess a great deal of the material discussed in the book; while its format is a picture book, it’s going to be tough to find a target audience. The artwork doesn’t really help either; mixed-media collages creatively insert the idea of the Ukrainian flag into the pages, but the cartoony nature and limited palette of the rest of the book is jarring.