June Callwood: A Life of Action is straight-ahead juvenile biography. The bland writing, though initially off-putting, is redeemed by rich detail and insight into the life of this brilliant Toronto activist and writer. Toronto teacher-librarian Anne Dublin (author of an award-winning biography of Olympian Bobbie Rosenfeld) has a wonderful subject in Callwood, founder of some 50 organizations, including Toronto institutions such as Jessie’s, a centre for teen parents; Casey House, a groundbreaking hospice for people with AIDS; and Nellie’s, a shelter for women and children fleeing domestic violence.

Dublin describes Callwood’s childhood experience of Depression-era poverty, glider lessons given as a 60th birthday gift from a daughter who knows her mother well, and Callwood’s decision not to treat the cancer with which she was diagnosed in 2003. We get vivid snapshots of aspects of Canada’s social history – the Second World War years, scornful attitudes toward hippies, the terror of AIDS. We follow Callwood as she comes to the big city, becomes a reporter, learns to pilot a plane, works as a freelance writer (with kids on her lap), and acts for social change despite conflicts, arrest, personal tragedies, and a chronic lack of funds.

Dublin sometimes fails to follow up on tantalizing details, discussing for example an episode of depression Callwood suffered in the 1950s without revealing what may have led to the depression or describing details of her recovery.

Dublin touches on the “worst” episode in Callwood’s life: an accusation of racism from a staff member at Nellie’s. We get more detail about the organizations themselves, Callwood’s four children, and her truly worst experiences: daughter Jill’s serious bike accident, son Brant’s paralysis, and the death of her young son, Casey, immortalized in the name of Casey House.

This is an admiring, enlightening portrait of the life and times of an exceptional woman who knows how to live, share, and survive with exemplary grace.