There are episodes in his­to­ry that need to be told in children’s books. The lives of indi­vid­u­als who, despite not being Jew­ish them­selves, coura­geous­ly decid­ed to attempt a res­cue of Europe’s Jews are some of those essen­tial sto­ries. Many young read­ers are still unfa­mil­iar with the lives of Oskar Schindler, Chi­une Sug­i­hara, or Raoul Wal­len­berg, all of whom worked against improb­a­ble odds to save many from mur­der by the Nazis. Por­tuguese diplo­mat Aris­tides de Sousa Mendes is less­er known, even to adults, but his achieve­ments are no less wor­thy of recog­ni­tion. Author Eliz­a­beth Brown and illus­tra­tor Melis­sa Cas­tril­lón present Sousa Mendes’s incred­i­ble saga in a thor­ough­ly researched pic­ture book.

The sub­ject of The World Entire guar­an­tees its rel­e­vance, but the stun­ning illus­tra­tions and illu­mi­nat­ing text ele­vate it to an exam­ple of the finest pic­ture-book artistry. In a tone that is simul­ta­ne­ous­ly fac­tu­al and folk­loric, Eliz­a­beth Brown brings Sousa Mendes to life as an indi­vid­ual, but also explores the con­text of his moral brav­ery. She depicts him as a father fig­ure, liv­ing with his wife and ​“many chil­dren” in an idyl­lic ​“lit­tle town encir­cled by sun­baked hills.” Char­i­ty was an inte­gral part of his hap­py exis­tence, as he and his fam­i­ly wel­comed the less priv­i­leged mem­bers of their com­mu­ni­ty to eat at their table.

As a diplo­mat for the Por­tuguese gov­ern­ment, Sousa Mendes trav­eled to work in Bor­deaux, France, where he was charged with screen­ing poten­tial emi­grants to his coun­try. His­to­ry intrudes when Nazi Ger­many begins its assault on Europe. Brown describes the begin­nings of this tragedy, as ​“storm clouds were gath­er­ing on Bordeaux’s azure hori­zon,” but she also offers in-depth nar­ra­tion sup­port­ed by his­tor­i­cal details. As Ger­many tight­ens con­trol over des­per­ate refugees, espe­cial­ly Jews, Sousa Mendes finds the strength to refuse com­pli­ance. Instead, he works to the point of exhaus­tion, sign­ing and stamp­ing the doc­u­ments that will allow entrance to Portugal.

Ren­dered in pen­cil and dig­i­tal­ly col­ored, Castrillón’s illus­tra­tions per­fect­ly match the text’s qui­et dra­ma. Earth col­ors, pas­tels, and jew­el tones com­bine with var­ied brush­work to cre­ate scenes as ani­mat­ed and elab­o­rate as a the­atri­cal pro­duc­tion. Expres­sion­ist-influ­enced por­traits of anguished refugees con­vey ten­sion. Occa­sion­al fan­tas­tic ele­ments — such as the curl­ing long fin­gers of Nazis pick­ing up doll-sized bod­ies of the vic­tims seek­ing to elude them — empha­size the high stakes of Sousa Mendes’s project.

Emo­tion and intel­lect both played a role in Sousa Mendes’s dar­ing plans. One scene shows him and his fam­i­ly care­ful­ly design­ing a mod­el for the swift imple­men­ta­tion of issu­ing visas. This intri­cate­ly designed pic­ture fea­tures rooms, fur­ni­ture, and tiny stick-fig­ure peo­ple. When Sousa Mendes was even­tu­al­ly arrest­ed and charged with dis­loy­al­ty to his gov­ern­ment, he became a vic­tim as vul­ner­a­ble as those he had tried to save. Reduced to accept­ing the char­i­ty he had once offered to oth­ers, he was reunit­ed with some of those he had brought to Por­tu­gal, includ­ing the rab­bi who had encour­aged him to fight his own fears.

The book’s back­mat­ter is an inte­gral com­po­nent of its impact, includ­ing an author’s note, time­line, and exten­sive bib­li­og­ra­phy, all bor­dered and enhanced with images. The title refers to the Tal­mu­dic pre­cept that ​“He who saves a sin­gle life, saves the world entire” — a les­son reflect­ed in every page of this high­ly rec­om­mend­ed and dis­tin­guished work.