Leon's Story (Sunburst Books) [Paperback]

Leon Walter Tillage (Author), Susan L. Roth (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Sunburst Books

"Leon's Story is a powerful, wonderful thing!" -- Nikki Giovanni

I remember that as a young boy I used to look in the mirror and I would curse my color, my blackness. But in those days they didn't call you "black." They didnt say "minority." They called us "colored" or "nigger."

Leon Tillage grew up the son of a sharecropper in a small town in North Carolina. Told in vignettes, this is his story about walking four miles to the school for black children, and watching a school bus full of white children go past. It's about his being forced to sit in the balcony at the movie theater, hiding all night when the Klansmen came riding, and worse. Much worse.

But it is also the story of a strong family and the love that bound them together. And, finally, it's about working to change an oppressive existence by joining the civil rights movement. Edited from recorded interviews conducted by Susan L. Roth, Leon's story will stay with readers long after they have finished his powerful account.

 

Leon's Story is the winner of the 1998 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Nonfiction.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4 Up. This is one man's story, but one that was shared by thousands of African Americans across the United States before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Tillage describes the trials of sharecropping; trying to get an education in an inferior school; and walking a long distance to school while watching a bus full of white children pass him by. The author witnessed the murder of his father when a group of drunken white teenagers ran over the man. What price do you place on a human life? The father of the driver gave Mrs. Tillage 100 dollars and told his son to apologize. He never did. There was never any legal action taken. The events are succinctly and honestly expressed in the author's first-person account. Roth's monochromatic collage art, placed before the beginning of each chapter, documents the sparseness of Tillage's life and its boundaries: home, church, school, work, and the balcony at the movie theater. The last story, "Marching," explains the role of many groups of southerners, representing a number of ethnic groups who supported and helped the marchers. The afterword and note about the genesis of the book are important addenda.?Marie Wright, University Library, Indianapolis, IN
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Tillage, a black custodian in a Baltimore private school, reminisces about his childhood as a sharecropper's son in the South, and his youth as a civil-rights protester. He explains the mechanics of sharecropping and segregation, tells of his mistreatment and his father's murder at the hands of white teenagers out to ``have some fun,'' and relates his experiences with police dogs, fire hoses, and jail while following Martin Luther King's ideas of nonviolent protest. Tillage matter-of-factly recounts horrific events, using spare language that is laced with remarkable wisdom, compassion, and optimism. Such gentleness only gives his story more power, as he drives home the harder realities of his childhood. Although the collage illustrations are interesting, they are too moody and remote for the human spirit behind the words, and readers will regret Roth's decision--especially in light of the boy smiling so brightly on the cover--that ``even one photo would be too many for Leon Walter Tillage's words.'' (Memoir. 8-14) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374443300
• ISBN-13: 978-0374443306
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > History & Historical Fiction > United States > 1900s
  • #41 in Books > Children's Books > History > United States > 1900s
  • #54 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Biographies > People of Color

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A majestic memoir of a man who knew love and prejudice., December 6, 1998

By 

avid reader "dee" (Saginaw, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leon's Story (Hardcover)

"Leon's Story" is the 1997 winner of the Elementary School Division of the Carter G. Woodson Book Award given by the National Council for the Social Studies for Multicultural Nonfiction taking place in the United States. The discussions between students and adults will be thought provoking. Questions will abound regarding why a nice person faced such horrid discrimination. I would recommend this for a read-aloud in the upper elementary grades so that the teacher can provide background information. Middle school and junior high students will find this book memorable and would make a great book for discussions regarding ethics, morality, history, social change, and civil rights. I would recommend schools obtaining classroom sets.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book beyond belief!!!, February 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Leon's Story (Hardcover)

I think this book is a good book for readers who like sad, but cool stories. I think one of the sad parts of the book is the part where his father gets run over. I recommend this book for people age 6 and up. Great book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting true story of America's dark past, April 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Leon's Story (Sunburst Books) (Paperback)

This is a gut-wrenching true story of a young Black boy who grew up on a farm just outside Raleigh, North Carolina. Although simplistically written, the stories are riveting. It's hard to believe that anyone could be so cruel to someone just because their skin was the wrong color. A must read....