A Note About the Author

Sonia Sotomayor graduated summa c.u.m laude from Princeton in 1976, and from Yale Law School in 1979. She worked as an a.s.sistant district attorney in New York County and then at the law firm of Pavia & Harcourt. From 1992 to 1998, she served as a judge of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, and from 1998 to 2009 on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In May 2009, President Barack Obama nominated her as an a.s.sociate Justice of the Supreme Court; she a.s.sumed this role on August 8, 2009.

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Me, age one, between Papi and Mami

First birthday. The photo was given to Abuelita as a memento years later when it was inscribed "For Grandma, from your granddaughter who never forgets you. Sonia."

Celina (right) with her "adoptive" family by marriage: Mercedes (center) and her daughter Gloria (left)

Abuelita and her second husband, Gallego, in Puerto Rico

Juli as a young man, soon after first arriving in New York

Celina in the Women's Army Corps, age nineteen

"To my beloved grandmother, I dedicate this humble remembrance in proof of my love for you. Your little grandson, Juan Luis Sotomayor" (translated from the Spanish inscription)

Juan Luis (Juli) Sotomayor, age two, in a photograph he gave to Celina early in their courtship, with an earlier dedication to his grandmother written on the back

With Junior on his first birthday: Papi's handwritten notes on the backing paper were discovered for the first time fifty-four years later while writing this book.

10 p.m.

October 29, 1958

Tomorrow is the birthday of my beloved Julyto, alias "Little Bull." May G.o.d give him many years of life and the same for my adored Sonia, the light of my eyes. To my beloved wife Celina, "Cucarocha," "Michaela," "Barcelo," and to all of my family, and that of my wife, may G.o.d bless you all. "July," Juan Luis Sotomayor (translated from Spanish inscription)

Juli's playful spirit would later recede.

Juli at the radiator factory

I preferred boys' toys, like guns, to dolls. With Papi, Junior, and Mami, beside the Christmas tree decorated by Papi.

Birthday girl with (left to right) my G.o.dmother, Carmin; Mom, Celina; and maternal aunt Aurora

Celina (center) was the Jackie O of Bronxdale, but Carmen (right) was a beauty, too. Abuelita is second from top left, flanked by her sisters. Gloria is behind Carmen, and in the front-row peanut gallery, from left, are Junior, Nelson, me, Eddie, and Miriam.

With cousins: (from left) Eddie, Miriam, Nelson, and Lillian. Miriam and I often dressed like twins.

Trying very hard at age four to match Mami's glamour, both of us dressed in new hats for Easter

Vamonos de parranda!: Abuelita loved a picnic.

At Blessed Sacrament, I first discovered love of learning and a l.u.s.t for gold stars.

Senior year at Cardinal Spellman High School

In the Princeton yearbook, cla.s.s of 1976