BOBBY

A reverent tribute to Robert F. Kennedy’s spirit and legacy.

The muted hues and grim, downcast faces in Fazlalizadeh’s atmospheric graphite art set a valedictory tone, but Wiles writes to connect living readers with Kennedy’s character and dedication to public service—framing her biographical overview as a tale told to a brown-skinned child by a lighter-skinned grandparent who ends with a present-tense challenge: “We know we have work to do.” Though the author humanizes her subject by informing readers that Kennedy loved “ice cream and big dogs. Just like you do,” offering anecdotes from his early years in a large and competitive family, and discussing his work to help his older—and more well-known—brother John be elected president, ensuing passages focus less on what he did than on his words as attorney general in support of voting and other civil rights along with his opposition to the war in Vietnam and statements of principle during his presidential candidacy (most cogently: “We can do better than this”). Wiles continues to address readers directly in her afterword, urging them to learn more about, and be inspired by, what he stood for and providing leads to recommended print and online sources. Faces and hands in group scenes are depicted in a range of skin tones. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Gives a Kennedy often lost in his older brother’s dazzle a glow of his own.