AT LAST SHE STOOD by ERIN ENTRADA KELLY

 ELIZABETH ANN QUIRINO Engages

At Last She Stood : How Joey Guerrero Spied, Survived and Fought For Freedom by Erin Entrada Kelly

(Greenwillow Books, 2025)

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At Last She Stood is the story of Josefina “Joey” Guerrero, WWII spy, Filipina guerrilla fighter, war heroine, Medal of Freedom recipient, teacher, and leprosy survivor.

Written for middle grade readers and by Erin Entrada Kelly, award-winning author and New York Times best selling author, this biography of Joey Guerrero is just as compelling for readers of all ages who are fans of wartime history.

Filipina Joey Guerrero was diagnosed with leprosy (Hansen’s disease) at the start of World War II in the Philippines. She was newly married and the mother of a toddler then.

Through anecdotes and brief glimpses of her life, Kelly tells the brave story of this extraordinary yet unknown woman from her life in the Philippines and eventually in the United States.

Readers will be able to relate to Guerrero’s feelings of insecurity, and being unloved. And yet her universal quest for freedom and peace, unshakable in her heart, radiates and shines through.

Josefina Guerrero, the leper, used her illness as a weapon during wartime after noticing the enemy were repulsed by her physical lesions. Her near disfigurement and hideous appearance gave her entry through the enemy’s checkpoints, which enabled her to transmit secret plans to the American forces, thus saving countless lives.

The author describes Guerrero’s bravery as unusual. It was selfless, never seeking personal gain, a trait rarely found in today’s modern times. Her personal sacrifices were admirable in the way of women and Filipino civilians of wartime whose awakenings and desire to help the cause of freedom were beyond admirable.

Kelly skillfully combines reality with heart. She beautifully crafts the realities of inhumanity and makes us think ow we, like Joey Guerrero, can do better.

The author’s sentences are an easy read, written in the present tense, with fluidity and ease. Sentences are brief, yet descriptive, and at times eerily familiar of today’s troubled times in the world.

A two-time Newberry Medal winner and a National Book Award finalist, Kelly has an effortless way to capture the beauty of Guerrero’s bravery as she used her illness as a shield and a weapon to draw attention away from her spying activities.

Entrada incudes a sidebar of another WWII heroine and friend of Guerrero—Lulu Reyes (my late mother) who was a humanitarian aid worker, Chaplains Aid Association president, and fellow Medal of Freedom recipient who secretly brought malaria medicines to American and Filipino POWs in the prison camps. These two women were kindred spirits in courage and love of country. Reyes and the Jesuits hid Guerrero from authorities for as long as they could after Guerrero was diagnosed with leprosy. May we all have it in our hearts and souls to be just as fierce in the constant fight for freedom.

*****

Elizabeth Ann Quirino, is a New Jersey-based award-winning journalist, food writer, cookbook author and memoirist. She recently published a Filipino food and history memoir Every Ounce of Courage: A Daughter’s Reflections On Her Mother’s Bravery. She is a recipe developer and contributor for food publications like The Kitchn, Simply Recipes, and Taste of Home. Quirino is also a correspondent for Positively Filipino online magazine. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and is on the Board of Advisers of the President Elpidio Quirino Foundation. Find more of her Filipino and Asian home cooking recipes on TheQuirinoKitchen.com.