A noteworthy start for chapter-book readers wishing to read more about young leaders of the movement.
Cline-Ransom writes the moving story of young civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin in this chapter-book biography that expands the She Persisted picture-book series created by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger.
Weaving together detailed historical background and personal information about Colvin’s life, Cline-Ransome brings the teen activist to life with great compassion and impressive brevity. From her humble beginnings in Pine Level, Alabama, to the loss of her sister to polio when Colvin was 13, readers learn the personal struggles the youth experienced as well as some of her triumphs, such as her frequent victories in class spelling bees, before being pushed into the spotlight for refusing to give up her seat to a White woman months before Rosa Parks would. The book very briefly discusses the politics behind why Colvin is lesser-known than Rosa Parks, focusing on community activists’ leeriness of her youth and not mentioning her pregnancy. With an eye toward the audience, the book keeps Colvin’s emotional journey at its heart even as it summarizes the boycott in conclusion. Flint’s occasional black-and-white interior illustrations emulate Boiger’s airy style, depicting Colvin with her loving family, riding in a Montgomery bus in a scene foreshadowing her history-making moment, and praying in a jail cell. Suggestions for how readers might persist appear in the backmatter.
A noteworthy start for chapter-book readers wishing to read more about young leaders of the movement. (further reading, websites) (Biography. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11583-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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