Synopses & Reviews
A memoir of the Civil Rights Movement from one of its youngest heroes
As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Albama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can be heroes. Jailed eleven times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans. In this memoir, she shows today's young readers what it means to fight nonviolently (even when the police are using violence, as in the Bloody Sunday protest) and how it felt to be part of changing American history.
Straightforward and inspiring, this beautifully illustrated memoir brings readers into the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, complementing Common Core classroom learning and bringing history alive for young readers.
Review
USA TODAY
Thursday, March 23, 2000
LIFE
The best in the eyes of young readers
by: Bob Minzesheimer
Norman Rockwell painted her when she was 6, surrounded by four federal marshals, marching to a New Orleans elementary school in the cause of integration.
Nearly 40 years later, Ruby Bridges turned her memories of that experience into a book for children. Today, Through My Eyes (Scholastic, $16.95) wins an award as 1999's best non-fiction children's book that "advances humanitarian ideals and serves as an inspiration to young readers." It's recommended for readers ages 7 to 12.
It's one of three awards from the Bank Street College of Education in New York. Each year, Bank Street organizes a children's book committee - half adults, half kids. They review 4,000 books and recommend 600 for various age groups.
'The work is shared by 28 librarians, teachers, authors and parents and 28 "young reviewers" (ages 7 to 15) from across the country who have in common a passion for books. Today, the committee issues the new edition of The Best Children's Books of the Year, which costs $8, and awards two others prizes:
- For a book "in which young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties" and "grow emotionally and moraly"- Gina Willner- Pardo for Figuring Out Frances (Houghton Mifflin, $14). It's about a 10-year-old girl who's trying to figure out boys, her mother and a grand- mother who has Alzheimer's. For readers 8 to 12.
- For the best poetry book - to Sonya Sones for Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy (HarperCollins, $14.95). It's about dealing with an older sister's mental breakdown. For readers 12 to 14.
For more information, call 212-8754540 or see www.bankstreet.edu/bookcom.
Review
* "Vivid details and the immediacy of Lowery's voice make this a valuable primary document as well as a pleasure to read."—
Kirkus, starred review
* "One of those rare books that is geniunely accessible to a brad audience."—BCCB, starred review
* "This inspiring personal story illuminates pivotal events in America's history."—Booklist, starred review
Synopsis
Ruby Bridges recounts the pivotal story of her involvement, as a six-year-old, in the 1960 integration of her school in New Orleans. Photos.
Synopsis
In November 1960, all of America watched as a tiny six-year-old black girl, surrounded by federal marshals, walked through a mob of screaming segregationists and into her school. An icon of the civil rights movement, Ruby Bridges chronicles each dramatic step of this pivotal event in history through her own words.
About the Author
Lynda Blackmon Lowery, the youngest person to take part in the whole Selma Voting Rights March of 1965, now works as a case manager at a mental health center, and still lives in Selma, Alabama.Elspeth Leacock has created several history and geography books for young people with her writing partner, Susan Buckley. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.Susan Buckley has created several history and geography books for young people with her writing partner, Elspeth Leacock. She lives in New York City.PJ Loughran is an illustrator, creative director, and musician. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.