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Dr. Jo: How Sara Josephine Baker Saved the Lives of America's Children is the story of a courageous and unconventional woman who attended medical school long before it was considered "normal" for women to do so, and who dedicated her life to the vulnerable babies and children living in poverty in New York City.
"Hell's Kitchen" was the name of the neighborhood where she did much of her work in public health. Despite the challenges, Dr. Jo went beyond simply treating patients and tried to come up with big-picture ideas that could help this population in the midst of their poverty -- one of her ideas was to make bottles out of beeswax to help make babies' eye drops safer.
I really appreciated this story of a woman who was ahead of her time and whose compassion drove her to save so many lives. Definitely a great example for girls (and boys) today.
(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)
Author: Monical Kulling
Illustrator: Julianna Swaney
Content Advisory: While not dwelt upon, afflictions like typhoid (leading to death), blindness, heat stroke, and other illnesses are mentioned and briefly described.