I definitely don't recommend this one. Cooper dwells on insignificant and outright boring details of Mandela's life and glosses over everything that is most important and interesting. The narration is more poetic than the more straightforward picture book, "Peaceful Protest" by McDonough & Zeldis, but to no effect. Yes, this one has beautiful illustrations and use of symbolism, but I finished the book thinking this is who Mandela was: a man who stood up for what was right, didn't like apartheid, was unjustly thrown in prison, and then became the first elected president of South Africa. Really, that's it. What's all the fuss? Good thing we had another book handy to get the real scoop. ( )

Mandela was an interesting but difficult read. The illustrations are dark and relatively distracting. Given the scope of the text, dark images are appropriate but the actual text was difficult to read through full page illustrations. No information was provided as to the author's credentials. A brief bibliography is provided which includes an autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Additionally, a pronunciation key is provided. Overall, I had hoped to enjoy this book because of the story itself but the many detracting factors were overwhelming. ( )

The life story of Nelson Mandela is told through this book. It starts at his childhood and recounts every major event in Mandela's life. It tells of the things Mandela had to go through in his life - both good and bad. A great biography if studying Nelson Mandela or studying South African history.