This is a great Middle Grade Biography with some great illustrations. It is easy to read with good insight into her life.

“Born to Jewish immigrants in 1911, Ruth Gruber knew what was expected of women and refused to conform, instead forging her own path of activism and journalism. Her career spanned seventy years and took her outside her New York City home to places that no one else would go, such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. She risked her life during times of great prejudice and war to give a voice to those who had none, and her bravery should never be understated or forgotten. Rona Arato’s account of Ruth’s life is extensive and written with great care, an excellent resource for children and educators.”

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Kar-Ben Publishing, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, through NetGalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Even though this is a middle grade book, it was important that I read Ruth Gruber’s story because it’s one i’ve never been exposed to. A young Jewish-American girl who wants to buck tradition and write about important issues around the world? Sign me up! I never tire of stories about Jewish ambition and success. A heavy dose of girl power? Even better! I adore Isabel Muñoz’s art style; it has a cute and nostalgic quality that brings Ruth to life and makes her story palatable for kids. No, this type of history shouldn’t be sugarcoated, but you can’t argue with the fact that pretty pictures help with young attention spans.

I don’t want to give too much away because Ruth’s story needs to be read to be believed. She was an incredible woman! I’ll just give you a few breadcrumbs to pique your interest. Ruth Gruber was born in New York, both her parents Jewish immigrants from Russia. She was twelve years old when she entered high school, fifteen when she started college, and by the age of twenty, she had a PhD. Her dissertation was about author Virginia Woolf’s determination to live life on her own terms, ignoring society’s expectations of women. Ruth had the spirit of a trailblazer from a young age and went on to do so much for Jews, her reach stretching from the United States to places like Germany, Israel, Italy, and Ethiopia. She put her own life at risk to tell stories of the Jewish experience around the world, fighting antisemitism and the general feeling that Jewish refugees were not welcome.

Author Rona Arato did an amazing job with “Nothing Could Stop Her: The Courageous Life of Ruth Gruber.” I was pleasantly surprised by how much ground is covered in a middle grade biography. The book spans from Ruth’s birth in 1911 to President Harry S. Truman’s announcement in December 1945 that Jewish refugees would be allowed to stay in the U.S. after the end of World War II. The Author’s Note picks up in 1947 and gives a summary of the rest of her life until her death in November 2016. I’m ashamed that I’d never heard of Ruth Gruber before, but now that I have, I cannot reccomend this book enough. Five Stars. This is a wonderful resource for kids, parents, and teachers. It’s a great place to start for adults who already enjoy middle grade books, but I’d also reccomend additional research. There are documentary and fictional films that I myself plan on watching. I wish 2024 wasn’t a time when a story like this is relevant, but here we are, and we won’t stop fighting. In the words of Ruth, “Have dreams, have visions, and let no obstacle stop you.”

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Content Breakdown: Alcohol (Mr. Gruber owned a liquor store), Antisemitism, Bodily Harm (i.e. weight loss from starvation), Camps (concentration & labor), Childbirth (uncomfortable conditions), Communism, Death & Loss, Fascism, Gestapo (German secret police), Hunting*, Immigration, Nazism, NKVD (Soviet secret police), Orphans, Pogroms, Prisoners, Prejudice & Racism, Refugees, Religion, War, & Wounded Soldiers

*Mention of Alaska’s indigenous people using the bones, fur, skins, & meat of animals for survival

Significant Events Mentioned - Prohibition, USSR history including the mistreatment of the Yakut, Emergency Quota Act of 1924, The Great Depression, World War II, the Holocaust, & Pearl Harbor

It's a beautiful biography of a Jewish woman. The stroy and the art is engaging. I love it!

Thanks Netgalley for the arc.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. A biography about Ruth Gruber and the many things she accomplished as a woman in a time when women stayed home and raised a family.

This book tells a fascinating true story about a Jewish woman who worked as a photojournalist. The text and illustrations are engaging, and her story of courage and perseverance is inspiring. I was especially fascinated to learn about her experiences in Germany at such a tumultuous and terrifying time, and this book has appeal for teens and adults as well as elementary school students. My one significant critique is that the extra information shared in text boxes sometimes majorly broke the flow of the main text. The information was helpful to contextualize things and needed to be there, but could have appeared in a less disruptive way.

I thought this was a great children's biography of Ruth Gruber. A Jewish young woman who wanted to become a writer. Life was hard for her because during the time she was going to college and wanting to get a career she witnessed Nazism begin in Germany. She lived in Europe during the time of war, but she was brave and stayed to work. She was very outspoken and wanted to be heard. Ruth Gruber was such a great person and this book showcased her life for young readers. I highly recommended this both for children and adults.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
The book is about journalist Ruth Gruber. It tells about her educational history through WWII. After the story portion, there is a summary of her life and work. The story was interesting and one that I had not heard before.

Up until today I had no idea who Ruth Gruber was while with the amount of time when I was younger I had to dedicate to learning about different aspects of the Holocaust I am surprised that I didn't trip over her before. As such this was rather a new person and one that I was ambivalent about getting to know since so many of these more modern biographies have a secret agenda.

<i>Nothing Could Stop Her</i> was actually a bit intimidating for me since it was such a "big" book on a historical figure geared for children. Instead, though, each of the chapters are small yet detailed while focusing on on particular aspect in her life. As a result this is one book that can be easily read to a room of children or other little ones over an extended time if you can hold yourself back from reading it all in one go.

Rona Arato does add a few Yiddish words at the very beginning but otherwise these fade pretty quickly while at the same time no German or Russian is included, especially since German is what she wanted to learn so much. At the same time readers may find it difficult to read some portions of this book just since the location and proper names included in the book as well as the Yiddish terms aren't provided with a pronunciation guide.

Another thing that I enjoyed is the fact that the author provides the reader with some situations and you eagerly wonder what is going to occur. Instead of leaving the reader in the dark and shrugging it off as just a piece of history better forgotten as it doesn't have any direct correlation to the protagonist after she has left the scene these answers are provided to the reader.

Finally the reader will find that there are insert boxes with more information whether it is about mentioned individuals, concepts and so much more. Although they didn't quite disrupt the story to read them then come back or move forward if I had known about them I may have done two readings thus dedicating myself to the story and then coming back to get some the extra data. Furthermore there is included at the back a bit more information about Ruth Gruber after her work during World War II, a timeline of events in her life and the world around her and also a glossary for terms that readers may not know about.

The book itself has nicely colored illustrations sprinkled throughout. Some take up the whole page, others are inserts and some are half pages. They help to make the reader lighter for children who may be struggling with this subject while also helping to put a face on these historical events.

My only issue with it is that at times it seems like the book is struggling to figure out which perspective that it wants to be told in but it doesn't take away from the whole story....

For anyone who is looking for a story about a strong, smart, compassionate and adventurous woman who made her own path in a world that didn't see her as being able to this will be a read to definitely enjoy as well share. And as one reviewer said it is a bit sad that we only get to see Ruth in her earlier years so perhaps someone will choose to come out with another book exploring her life further down the line.

**I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

This is a great narrative nonfiction about a Jewish woman who broke through barriers during WWII and the takeover of Germany. Such an inspiring story for young girls to read about determination, bravery, and never letting others stop you from your passions.

What a wonderfully written book about difficulties faced by an amazing woman - Ruth Gruber. Each page held brilliant images and information with little tidbits of fact boxes about events here and there. Every page handled the story of Ruth in a beautiful light, even in the darkest of times. This book also brought to light something that many of us choose to turn a cheek to - antisemitism. It was a wonderful learning lesson for me as the reader, and I know it’ll continue as the same for others. Thanks for the opportunity to review!

I've never heard of Ruth Gruber, so I liked that I was able to learn more about her through a graphic novel. I think this would be great to give to younger audiences!

Such an amazing story of Ruth Gruber. I hadn’t heard of her so I found this book fascinating. I loved the illustrations as well.

"I had two tools to fight injustice--words and images, my typewriter and my camera. I just felt that I had to fight evil, and I've felt like that since I was twenty years old. And I've never been an observer. I have to live a story to write it."-Ruth Gruber

This is the story of Ruth Gruber, a journalist from a Jewish American family and activist that covered places and situations that most reporters wouldn't. She went to school in Germany, attempting to get her PhD in one year, right at the time that Hitler was building power and tensions against the Jews was rising. In spite of seeing first-hand how things were, she returned to report on the conditions of women under different governments. She spent time in Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union. She returned to the US to give speeches about the injustices she had seen, then continued to travel and tell the stories of those who otherwise wouldn't be heard, such as stories from the Soviet gulag. She went to Alaska for a year and a half, spent time in Italy after being made a general so the enemy couldn't kill her if she was captured and much more.

The book is a little over 100 pages with lots of color and illustrations, making this book a good option for kids to stretch into longer history books without it being as intimidating. It also has some informational boxes explaining things like Yiddish and other important things to give readers context they might not have. he book is written in a storytelling format, which makes it feel like reading a fiction story more than a biography. This is an excellent book to learn a little about the incredible career of an amazing woman.

Nothing Could Stop Her is a story of Ruth Gruber, a remarkable woman who pushed the boundaries, and was determined to live life on her own terms.

She was born in Brooklyn, NY, to a Jewish family from Russia. From the young age, she displayed talent for writing and poetry. She went on to study German and exploring the world beyond Brooklyn. After receiving her Master degree in the US, she continued her education in Cologne, Germany. Despite her parents protests as situation was getting worrisome with Adolf Hitler.

She received her PhD at the age of twenty. A year in Germany opened her eyes to many things, including growing antisemitism. It put fire under her to fight for humanity. She became a reporter, first in the US, then internationally.

Her journey as a reporter shows not only how extraordinary she was, but also how much history was involved in her work, which comes to light as her story is revealed. She was set to discover about lives of women in remote areas such as Siberia. Leading her to another research about political prisoners in USSR. Later, bringing lives of hunters in Alaska. Her most passionate accomplishment was probably fighting for war refugees, followed by her humanitarian work, and covering stories of oppressed Jews.

This engagingly written story shines light on a remarkable woman, who was a true trailblazer, and achieved many things despite time not being on her side as a woman.

Interesting biography of a woman who was able to study and have a career starting just before WWII, which was somewhat unusual. Her Jewish heritage made it very dangerous for her to travel to Germany and Poland at the time, but she use her leverage to help people. I wish that the biography hadn't stopped in the 1940s, since Gruber's story is fascinating. I liked how it was illustrated with pictures made to look like photographs.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book. I enjoyed learning about this fascinating woman. The information presented was interesting and accessible for young readers.

A great illustrated book about Ruth Gruber and her journey to become a journalist. She didn't let anything stop her on her journey! A great book to inspire young girls (and other children) to follow their dreams!

This biography is fitting for my immigration unit. It told the courageous story of Ruth Gruber whose immigrant family moved to Brooklyn in the early 1900s. She was extremely bright and motivated and earned a phD by age 20. She was a well-established writer and scholar at an early age and bravely adventured in dangerous places at wartime to sate her curiosity. She helped many refugees and helped preserve Jewish culture.

This was an excellent book- perfect for a middle grader to read independently or as a read-aloud for a younger child. Difficult subjects were addressed in an age-appropriate manner, which i definitely appreciated. I loved learning about somebody I'd never heard of. Illustrations were also just right!

I love learning about not so popular people in history. As a mom and a teacher, this appealed to all of my reading interests. Ruth Gruber grew up in New York City during the turn of the 20th century. Women did not have many options except being a wife, mother or teacher. She showed the world that women can do anything they set their mind to. I like how the author weaved in historical references and world events. It is important for children to be aware of these while they are reading.
I recommend this book for grade four and above. Thank you to Lerner Publishing and NetGalley for an advance copy of the book. The opinions expressed are my own.