Walking To The Bus Rider Blues [Hardcover]

Harriette Gillem Robinet (Author)

Book Description

It is June, 1956 in Montgomery, Alabama.

African-Americans are boycotting the bus company that had their neighbor, Mrs. Rosa Parks, arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. Until they can sit wherever they wish on the bus, African-Americans are refusing to ride. They are walking.

For Alfa Merryfield, walking can be a problem. When he takes the bus he avoids the white boys who steal his pay for working in Mr. Greendale's grocery store. Losing the money is a disaster. He and his sister and his great-grandmother, who live together, need money to rent their two-room house. When Alfa loses his pay, they are short on the rent. To make matters worse, someone is stealing the money they save from where they hide it, and they, themselves, are accused of stealing two thousand dollars from a house where their grandmother is a cleaning woman.

Alfa wants to be a doctor and uses the scientific method to solve their theft problems. Alfa and his sister work hard to pay the rent and to find the thieves.

Alfa has learned, from the bus boycott and its leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to "walk the walk and talk the talk" in the spirit of nonviolence, and to respect himself and his dreams. As Alfa's own "Bus-Rider Blues" says about the world he knows: "It ain't never ever going to be the same."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Robinet (Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule) sets this quasi-mystery and historical novel in June 1956 during the Montgomery bus boycott, and 12-year-old Alfa's narration brings its ramifications home and lends the events a sense of immediacy. Alfa lives with his great-grandmother Mama Mayfield, well respected in the town even among many white people, and sister Zinnia in a ramshackle tar-paper house. He composes the "bus-rider blues" as he attempts to bolster his courage against three white bullies who steal his pay from the Greendale grocery where he works. He manages to turn the tables on the trio by applying the philosophy of the newly arrived Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whom he hears at rallies in his church. When a wealthy white woman accuses Alfa's family of stealing from her while cleaning her home, he puts King's teachings to the test. Robinet conveys the tension in Montgomery, not only through the impact of the bus boycott and King's preaching of non-violence on day-to-day interactions among townspeople but through the reverberations of African-American Emmett Till's racially motivated murder the previous summer. A few important threads remain only partially explored, such as the loan shark who holds a connection to both the accusing white family and Alfa and Zinnia's "phantom mother," and some inconsistencies come through in Mr. Greendale's and Zinnia's characters. The novel is at its strongest when filling in historical details of the time, such as the volunteer taxi service for bus boycotters, and may well inspire readers to discover more about this important chapter in civil rights history. Ages 8-12. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Six months into the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956, resourceful 12-year-old Alfa Merryfield, his older sister Zinnia, and his devoted grandmother, Big Mama, walk everywhere, pooling their meager wages to pay the rent on their tar-paper home. When their money begins disappearing, the siblings are determined to solve the mystery and to keep their home. Struggling to make ends meet, they take a house-cleaning job that leads to accusations of theft. Persevering and observant, Alfa solves this second mystery, confronts the white establishment with the truth, and saves his home. In the process, he discovers that financial and domestic troubles can be found in the homes of whites as well as "coloreds." He also discovers that his own estranged, drug-addicted mother has been secretly extorting their precious rent money from Big Mama. Local echoes of the civil-rights era permeate the story. Alfa feels the pain of injustice when white boys steal his wages, his longtime grocery-store boss fires him for being implicated in a theft, and guards threaten and beat him for attempting to use the local library. And yet, with idealism and personal conviction, he rises above these abuses and proves to himself and the "System" that through nonviolence and persistence, truth can prevail. Despite the emphasis on racial inequities, both black and white characters are shown as vulnerable and capable of change. Ingredients of mystery, suspense, and humor enhance and personalize this well-constructed story that offers insight into a troubled era.
Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689831919
• ISBN-13: 978-0689831911
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,257,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reminiscent of Watsons Go to Birmingham, December 7, 2002

By 

Julia S Longnecker (Riverdale, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking to the Bus-Rider Blues (Paperback)

The characters are so real and the story so well-written that I felt like I was walking right along with them. It's a wonderful book for children to get the feel of what it was like during the Civil Rights movement. I'm a middle school teacher, and I highly recommend this book for grades 4-8.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fiction And Fun, March 29, 2004

By 

Fola Richardson (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking to the Bus-Rider Blues (Paperback)

Do you know what many white people were doing to Blacks during segregation? Well, this book "Walking to the Bus-Rider Blues" by Harriet Gillem Robinet will answer your questions. It's fiction, but it is based on historical records which tell how African Americans were treated during segregation. During the time of the main character Alfa's life, boycotting buses in Montgomery, Alabama was a hard struggle for African Americans. Many of them had to walk for miles in hot weather, listening to whites telling them to stop causing trouble.
In the book, Alfa is a strong black young man who tries to clear his name after being accused of stealing a lot of money. He also has to deal with racism and taking care of his elderly grandmother and his older sister.
The writer's style is very descriptive. You can imagine in your mind what everything looks like just by her words. One thing I really liked about this book is that it tells you about history. At the same time, there is an exciting fiction story to read.
"Walking to the Bus-Rider Blues" will be a great book for people who likes books that have enormous suspense in it and also people who love history. Why not give this book a try?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and moving, May 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Walking To The Bus Rider Blues (Hardcover)

Montgomery, Alabama, 1956. The historic, courageous, terrifying bus boycott had started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person. Just what this meant to most people becomes very clear in this edgy, uncomfortable book. Alfa, aged 12, and his sister, age 15, live in dire poverty with their great-grandmother Merryfield. Alfa's mother left them there years before, and has never communicated with them since. Their great-grandmother is very elderly, some say maybe even ninety years old, and beginning to be forgetful. She makes about $40 a month; Alfa makes another $20 a month working hard in a grocery store. Rent is $50 a month, but part of the rent money is regularly disappearing. Alfa determines to solve the mystery, but stay within the system that keeps African-Americans perpetually in fear and victims of anyone who wants to get them in trouble.