The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary, edited by Tobin, provides an in-depth article-by-article analysis of all the substantive provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention) and its two Optional Protocols, the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. The commentary is written predominantly from a legal perspective that aims to discuss the scope and nature of the rights granted to children and the obligations imposed on states to ensure the implementation of the rights in question. For reasons explained in the book, the commentary does not cover, in this already massive contribution, comments on the preamble, articles 41 to 54 of the Convention or the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, and does not provide detailed information of the drafting history of every single article. However, it ensures coherence by reviewing in great detail every article of the Convention, from 1 to 40, chapter by chapter, each with: (i) an introduction that offers general observations on the right in question; (ii) an in-depth textual analysis of the article; (iii) an evaluation of the article that aims to bring the attention to “the article's strengths, weakness, unresolved issues and future development”, (p. 8); and lastly, (iv) a select bibliography on the issues covered in the chapter.

Overall, the commentary's main argument is that “the broad formulation of the rights under the Convention invites a lively and dynamic discussion about the meaning of these rights”, which in turn “provides a constant opportunity to align the meaning of these provisions with the values and preferences of the individual interpreter” (p. 2). This claim is reflected in each of the forty chapters where the authors tackle the Convention's malleability whilst carefully considering the real risk of disagreement of the meaning of the Convention. Professor Tobin's commentary is of immense value as it is one of the few up-to-date commentaries on children's rights. The multi-authored commentary is a substantial contribution to the literature on the rights of children and is highly recommended to students, scholars, and international and human rights lawyers interested in grasping a more profound knowledge about children's rights and the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. On the last and charming note, the reflective part of the commentary is just as striking and insightful as the whole book itself, whereby Professor Tobin offers a first-hand impression on how challenging it is in practice to abide by the Convention's standards with respect to children and invites the reader to self-reflect.