AUDREY EVANS

An illustrated children’s book presents an accessible portrait of the life and career of a medical pioneer.

Few people who knew Audrey Evans during her childhood in 1920s and ’30s England could have predicted that she would become a physician one day. Rebellious and sometimes reckless, Evans was also ill with tuberculosis as a child, which caused her to lag behind in school. These factors made it seem unlikely that she would be able to pass the rigorous tests necessary for medical school, much less overcome the barriers placed before women trying to enter the traditionally male field. Time and again, Evans’ determination to succeed pulled her over seemingly insurmountable obstacles, as she increased her efforts, retook tests and courses, and even traveled to the United States to complete her training to be a pediatrician. Drawing on her own experiences as a sick child in a hospital, Evans introduced innovative, patient-centered methods of treatment, including the then-radical notion that “doctors, nurses, social workers, and chaplains needed to work together as a team to help children who were sick.” Among the significant accomplishments of Evans’ career was her role in founding a network of “Ronald McDonald houses,” where parents can stay for free while their children are being treated for serious illnesses. Butler’s episodic narrative does an effective job of capturing Evans’ indomitable personality and unusual journey through a series of evocative vignettes. These include “Hooray for Weekends,” which brings to life a typical Saturday in Evans’ home city of York, and “They’re Only Clothes,” which personalizes the upheaval of war through a seemingly trivial event. The tone of the accessible story is upbeat and personal, as it repeatedly encourages young readers to believe that they too can accomplish more than they might expect. Neogi’s rich, carefully detailed, full-page illustrations add texture and depth to the account, with images portraying the bucolic charm of rural England and the excitement of young patients after Evans advocates for them to have birds and fish on their ward. But it would have been less jarring for readers if the author had defined unfamiliar words in the text rather than in a glossary at the end of the work.

An intimate and rewarding biography of a remarkable doctor, designed for young readers.