The interesting story of Natan Sharansky, a figure I was unfamiliar with prior to reading this ARC. My main concern with suggesting this book to others is the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (even that phrase feels wrong). Sharansky was certainly a victim in his native country, but having then gone on to be a political leader in Israel, I feel a sense of wariness that the book is a bit biased. I would urge selectors to do more research on the topic to ensure the book is not as biased as it feels to me or make sure to offset the bias with another work.

Five stars. Excellent resource about the life of this heroic figure for young children. Engaging comic style illustrations will keep young folks (and adults too) riveted to Sharansky's life story. Well-organized, we learn the trajectory of young Anatoly's (Natan's) life in the Soviet Union. Born into a non-religious Jewish home, we witness the development of Sharansky's desire to learn about and affiliate with other Jewish people. As a young man with a sharp mind and keen intellect, he learned to play chess.

His ability to strategize chess moves inside his head helped him while suffering through many long years of imprisonment for his dissidence and public stand about the plight of Jewish people in the Soviet Union. Eventually, Sharansky was able to leave the U.S.S.R. and move to Israel. He was helped by the tireless efforts of his wife (who had emigrated to Israel), thousands of Jewish people advocating for the "refusniks" (in Israel and the United States), and the president of the United States who intervened on his behalf. A timeline is included at the end of the book. An important historical biography.

This reminded me a lot of classics illustrated, but in biography form. A concise, readable, important biography of a man who stood up for religious freedom against authoritarian evil. Really good for kids to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing for the advanced copy. Natan Sharansky is the story of one man, but also tells the story of an important movement and the dedication of many people during a crucial time for Jews during the Soviet Union. It balances difficult subject matter with a flowing narrative and covers an impressive amount of historical information without ever dragging or losing the reader's interest. The artwork is beautiful and engaging as well. Although aimed at a younger demographic, adults will also find the story well worth the read.

Natan Sharansky was not someone I was familiar with. I was a child while he was a prisoner in a Russian gulag, basically for nothing more than being Jewish and protesting their treatment in Russia. From the beginnings of the rise of the Communist Party, Jews were used as a scapegoat for problems.
Russian Jews were looked down upon and mistreated. They weren't allowed to hold certain jobs and only allowed to attend designated schools.

I think these types of graphic novel biographies are important. As Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Natan Sharansky is a powerful story told in both words and images. The book is ideal for showing readers that graphic novels can mean much more than just comics superheroes and spandex. A historical, well-crafted, and detailed visual teaching and reading space.

For the very young readers, Natan Sharansky and his fight against the enormous power of the Soviet Union may not mean too much. After all, who does remember the Soviet Union if never lived there or in its vicinity? However, in another reality, this conglomerate of nations, cultures and languages kept Jews captive either by refusing them the right to a passport and to their trip to Israel - or out of the country - or simply imprisoning those who reclaimed their identity.

Sharansky was born in the same year with the state of Israel - 1948 - in the nowadays Ukraine. A passionate chess player, he enroled in the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology - one of the few accepting Jews in the Soviet Union. Belonging to a very secular family, as many other Jews from all over the world, he became inspired by the victory of Israel during the 6-Day War. He reclaimed his identity, by being interested to learn Hebrew and eventually become closer to religious practice. As he was employed by the Institute for Oil and Gas in Moscow, his visa was denied due to his familiarity with ´state secrets´. His wife, Avital, that he married one day before she left for Israel, was waiting for him and soon she will become his voice and supporter. Arrested in March 1977 and brought to Lefortovo KGB Prison he will spent over 400 days touring the Soviet prisons. His liberation was requested at public gatherings all over the world and was finally decided following the 1986 meeting between Gorbatchev and his American counterpart, Ronald Reagan.

In the context of the lockdown stories, Sharansky - now living in Israel and since then holding various official positions, including as the top head of Jewish Agency for Israel - shared how he was able to survive solitary confinment while imagining various chess moves. This helped him to keep his brain sharp.

The graphic novel featuring all those stories long forgotten, Natan Sharansky. Freedom Fighter for Soviet Jews is the team work of Blake Hoena (text) and Daniele Dickmann (illustrations). The text is dense and includes a lot of useful information. I was not very impressed by the illustrations but it´s a matter of personal taste and expectations. Overall, it is an useful book, aimed to remind about a very dramatic episode in the history of contemporary Jewry. Hopefully, there will be more such works that will keep the memory alive, for a variety of readership.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Natan sounds like a truly remarkable human being who endured much during his life. But there was a huge lack of character and world building that left me feeling disconnected from the people in the book. His wife Avitol seems to have played an extremely pivotal role in getting him released from the gulag yet there is little to learn about her in the book. What did she do in Israel for all those years while he was in prison besides being an activist on his behalf? Did she work? Where did she live? I really wanted to know more about her. Also, I would have liked to know more about Nathan’s family. If he was in a gulag, I would assume his family would have been harassed by the KGB but there is virtually no mention of his parents or brother after he was arrested. I felt like this was a good beginning to the story but it felt very incomplete, and unfinished. I wish it had been much longer.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Informative, fast-paced, and moving, this story of an activist, political prisoner, and hero, sheds light on the life and work of Natan Sharansky and his wife Avital. For many people like me, this may be the first time that you've heard of him, but I am glad to have learned more.

For the past few years I have been seeking an engaging way to teach my students about Soviet Jewry, and this is perfect. Using the popular medium of graphic novels, this book gives enough background information about the Soviet Union to teach kids, while engaging them in the true story of Sharansky. It reads like a popular novel students would pick up from the shelf. It is a welcome addition as either a classroom library book or a textbook. It could be used in any classroom to teach about non-violent change throughout the world.

The book gives a great overview of Sharansky's life in the Soviet Union, with helpful explanations to explain background context to younger readers. The simple style and the emphasis on explaining things through captions (like a narrator in a documentary) make it a very simply-told story that seems directed at kids, but the artwork is good enough that older readers can enjoy it as well.

Well I'm left after reading this not knowing who to blame for the fact the story was new to me – I was a teen in the mid-1980s when global activism helped free the hero of this book from Soviet gulags and get him to Israel, following his wife and thousands upon thousands of refuseniks. And yet I cannot remember hearing at all about these people from anywhen in my education or from the news of the time. Refuseniks, then, for other people in the same boat as me, were people, principally Jewish, who wanted to leave the oppressive Soviet Union, but were denied exit visas. They were easy prey for the likes of the KGB as a result, and they were openly deemed traitors, spies and suchlike for appearing to be so anti-Soviet. Well, for Natan and his friends, they were happily anti-Soviet, for the anti-Jewish resentment had hardly lessened since the worst of Stalin.

I'm also left at least a bit wiser courtesy of these pages, and grateful such an easily-read graphic novel for the young audiences will serve to fill holes in educations elsewhere. It's very much a school-friendly look at the man, who could not officially marry his wife, could not leave, and then could not find the freedom to say why he and others should be allowed to want out. All the relevant events, it seems, are covered in fine fashion, the chess aspect of the man and the book is not belaboured, and the design makes it all very clear, again in a PG manner. This, then, really does work as an educational volume – I'm but one piece of evidence for that. Four and a half stars.