Customer Reviews

Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation

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This excellent book portrays history in a way that is understandable to children. The text is written in a blues style that adds interest (though it is hard to keep with the rhythm at times). The story begins with Rosa Parks riding the bus and not only explains the boycott but shows the sacrifice that was made by the people in order to find other means of transportation. In addition, Jim Crow is portrayed as a bird that keeps pecking at the people. This detail really makes the book enjoyable for children.

Stormy, windswept illustrations lead the reader through the over three hundred long day Montgomery Bus Boycott; the days of the blues. Rhythmic southern dialect leads the way for a freedom song. Starting with Rosa Parks' refusal to move to the back of the bus and ending with the Supreme Court decision to strike down Jim Crow, with days and days of walking in between, this story brings alive the struggle of the Bus Boycott. And on Day 382, African Americans walk to the front of the bus.

The inspiring story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Riots is made accessible to younger children [ages 4-8] in this touching picture book illustrated in vibrant colors and with a lyrical, rhythmic prose. I liked the way the Jim Crow law of segregation is portrayed as a bird pecking away at the innocent, trying to uphold segregation but eventually being defeated by the power of people through boycott. Rosa Parks is compellingly portrayed as a humble seamstress who dares stand up for her civil rights, and Martin Luther King makes his appearance here, calling for a boycott on public transportation to get the laws to change. The lengthy time it took for the boycott to finally have its desired effect - all of 382 days is portrayed in a manner that makes it accessible to young children, despite the 'heavy' nature of the topic.The narrator is a dog strumming a guitar using a lyrical prose that is reminiscent of the blues-genre of music [I just wish there was an accompanying music sheet]. Highly recommended and a great read-aloud book.