WOW Recommends: The World Entire
While there are many stories centered around the Holocaust, the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes is not a name well known to many readers. Besides learning more about WWII from yet another perspective, The World Entire offers a story of selfless commitment to others. Current narratives exist of people taking a stand for those struggling for their freedom and rights as people as well as immigration issues. The heartfelt concern for others that motivated Aristides' risk taking is a concern that readers today can apply to everyday situations. As the author includes, "He who saves a single life, saves the world entire." (The Talmud)
Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese diplomat serving his country in Bordeaux, France reviewing requests for visas to travel to Portugal from France. When not in his office in France, Aristides and his large family lived in a small town where he opened his home to its people while living a comfortable "proper, polished, and perfect" life. But the year was 1940 and the Nazis were approaching Bordeaux where many people gathered--refugees in hopes of obtaining visas to journey to Portugal. While Portugal was not taking sides during the war, it was also not helping people trying to escape and refused to allow its diplomats to issue visas to those seeking refuge.
The story shares how Aristides could not ignore the long line of families at the consulate seeking his help. He and his family worked for five days and four nights to create visas for all who waited. Exhausted, he helped sign and stamp visas in a neighboring town as well as led families along a back road through Spain who had closed its main border crossings to visa-holding people. As a result of continuing to provide visas, Aristides was arrested when he reached his home in Portugal and stripped of his position, home and his children's right to work or attend university in Portugal. However, over 23 days, he rescued many thousands of people including Salvador Dali, Margret and H. A. Rey, the Belgian cabinet, professors of medicine and sciences, as well as thousands of other "less known but no less precious" lives.
The author shares a rich collection of resources that include sources for quotes, a bibliography with primary and secondary sources, an informative Author's Note and Timeline. A reader is provided with support as to authenticity and further reading. Also impressive is the dedication by the author and illustrator "to all the diplomats who defied official policy to save countless lives during World War II," inclusive of numerous individual names.
Another aspect of importance is that the illustrations, sketched in pencil and digitally colored, are inviting. A cream-colored background provides a sense of warmth to the images that on each page vividly reflect the story being told – sometimes realistically and often through a visual metaphor.
Author Elizabeth Brown displays her passion for social justice through writing, teaching and film production. She is an award-winning author of Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler (illustrated by Aimee Sicuro, 2019) and Like a Diamond in the Sky: Jane Taylor's Beloved Poem of Wonder and the Stars (illustrated by Becca Stadtlander, 2022). She resides outside Chicago.
Melissa Castrillón, internationally acclaimed illustrator, lives in Cambridge, England and has both authored and illustrated children's books. The Balcony (2019) and Yellow Kayak (written by Nina Laden, 2018) are yet other examples of her use of stylized shapes and bright colors that intriguingly capture the story through art.--Recommended by Janelle Mathis, Professor Emeritus, University of North Texas
Title: The World Entire, A True Story of an Extraordinary World War II Rescue
Author: Elizabeth Brown
Illustrator: Melissa Castrillón
ISBN: 9781452170985
PubDate: September 2, 2025
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Each month a committee of Worlds of Words advisors recommends a book published within the last year. Our hope is to spark conversations on our website and on social media about the book that expand global understandings and perceptions. Please join us by leaving a comment. You can also share your thoughts with us by using the hashtag #WOWRecommends on social media.
