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Freedom Summer Hardcover – Picture Book, January 1, 2001

by Deborah Wiles (Author), Jerome Lagarrigue (Author)

235 ratings

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John Henry swims better than anyone I know.
He crawls like a catfish,
blows bubbles like a swamp monster,
but he doesn't swim in the town pool with me.
He's not allowed.
Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim.
But there's one important way they're different: Joe is white and John Henry is black and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn't allowed to do everything his best friend is.
Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there...only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people's hearts.
This stirring account of the "Freedom Summer" that followed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 powerfully and poignantly captures two boys' experience with racism and their friendship that defies it.

Reading age

4 - 8 years
Print length

32 pages
Language

English
Grade level

Preschool - 3
Lexile measure

AD600L
Dimensions

10 x 0.4 x 9 inches
Publisher

Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date

January 1, 2001
ISBN-10

0689830165
ISBN-13

978-0689830167
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Mississippi during the summer of 1964, Wiles's affecting debut children's book about two boysAone white and the other African-AmericanAunderscores the bittersweet aftermath of the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Rather than opening public pools, roller rinks and shops to African-Americans, many towns and private owners boarded up the doors. Wiles delivers her message incisively through the credible voices of her young characters, narrator Joe and his best friend, John Henry, whose mother works as housekeeper for Joe's family. Joe and John spend many hours swimming together in the creek because John is not allowed in the public pool, so on the day the Civil Rights Act is enacted, they visit the town pool together, excited about diving for nickels in the clear water. Instead they find a work crewAincluding John Henry's older brotherAfilling in the pool with asphalt. "John Henry's voice shakes. 'White folks don't want colored folks in their pool.' " The tale ends on an upbeat if tenuous note, as the boys walk together through the front door of a once-segregated shop to buy ice pops. Lagarrigue's (My Man Blue) softly focused, impressionistic paintings capture the lazy feel of summer days and affirm the bond between the two boys. The artist's close-up portraits of the boys' faces, as well as the body language of other characters, reinforce the narrative's powerful emotional pitch. Ages 4-8. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5-8. "John Henry Waddell is my best friend," begins the narrator of this story, set during a summer of desegregation in the South. John Henry is black and the narrator is white, so the boys swim together at the creek, rather than at the whites-only town pool, and the narrator buys the ice-cream at the segregated store. When new laws mandate that the pool, and everything else, must desegregate, the boys rejoice, until the town fills the pool with tar in protest and the narrator tries to see this town, "through John Henry's eyes." The boy's voice, presented in punchy, almost poetic sentences, feels overly romanticized, even contrived in places. It's the illustrations that stun. In vibrantly colored, broad strokes, Lagarrigue, who illustrated Nikki Grimes' My Man Blue (1999), paints riveting portraits of the boys, particularly of John Henry, that greatly increase the story's emotional power. Beautiful work by an illustrator to watch. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atheneum Books for Young Readers (January 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0689830165
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0689830167
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 4 - 8 years
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ AD600L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ Preschool - 3
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10 x 0.4 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,664,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,082 in Children's 1900s American Historical Fiction
- #6,288 in Children's Black & African American Story Books

Customer Reviews:
235 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		88%
4 star		9%
3 star		2%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Two Friends Face the Racial Barriers of the 1960's

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2016

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One caveat: this book tells a story of the realities of segregation through the eyes of a white boy who has a black friend. One wonders how John Henry--the black boy--might have told his own story..
Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles and illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue won both the 2002 Ezra Jack Keats Award as well as a Coretta Scott King Award. It begins with two friends enjoying the leisurely pace of summer, hanging around, being friends together, swimming in a local creek. “John Henry swims better than anybody” the narrator knows. They ecstatically anticipate the prospect of the local community pool’s opening day. But, when they arrive at the gates, the boys discover that the facility has been bulldozed. No one will swim there again.

Why?
.
Because this story takes place in a segregated America. In 1960, laws ensured blacks could not share facilities with whites. After desegregation legislation passed, instead of complying, Mobile, Alabama opted to close the town pool, ice cream parlor, and roller rink. Hate and prejudice blinded people to fairness and the rights of all citizens to equality and access to facilities. To deny blacks access, they denied the entire community access.

This award-winning book splendidly captures the boys’ friendship so when they encounter the closed pool, the reader feels dazed by the community’s betrayal. The conversations this book might open are important one on issues such as racism, prejudice as well as loyalty, friendship and thinking for oneself.

The forward by the other offers additional insights about her motives for writing the book as well as her personal encounters with segregation during her own childhood.

Adoption-attuned Lens:

The potential for adoption-related conversations is broad. In addition to racial and cultural bias, adoptive families frequently encounter bias against their families. Our family ties are often questions in terms of permanency, depth and reality. This book can help families talk about standing up for ourselves as well as being a voice for others who face discrimination and bias.

--Gayle H. Swift, "ABC, Adoption & Me: A Multicultural Picture Book

3 people found this helpful

Eileen Richards

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2020

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Great story showing a true friendship after the civil rights act was passed.

One person found this helpful

Lovely story beautful artwork

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2020

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Timely and sweet

One person found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2019

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My second-grade students loved it!

2 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2020

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GOOD BOOK

One person found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2010

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This is a very evocative book about racism and hatred. Here's this boy, excited to play in the pool for the first time - and he can't. The city was so upset about integration that they filled the pool with concrete rather than let black people swim there. Terrible.

This book is realistic, and we can always use more books about history. It's well-written, I like the artwork.

But...

See, now, I have to ask this. Here's this book about integration, about hatred, about racism. It features a white boy and his black best friend. Best friend's big brother makes an appearance, too. The best friend is the one who feels heartbroken, he's the one who's suffering here...

So why is the white kid the narrator?

Is this story of friendship, and of hatred, really his story to tell? Why couldn't John Henry have told his own story?

49 people found this helpful

Jessica Perkins

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2018

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My students enjoyed this book

One person found this helpful

Heather Douglas

good read aloud

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2018

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This book shows how, even if laws are changed, people's hearts are slower to change. It also is a beautiful picture of friendship.

Top reviews from other countries

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Red Bus Book Lover

Lovely book set at the end of the civil rights era

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 27, 2019

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It is worth noting that this book is a could-be-true rather than an is-true book. It is beautifully drawn and could provoke excellent discussions. The sheer perversity of the white community destroying their town swimming pool rather than sharing it is stark and may well shock young readers into a fuller understanding of thinking at the time.

stacey vaux

Great for education

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2020

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Excellent book, creates some great talking points with children about segregation and and the 1960’s in the south.

MAB

are best friends. Even with desegregation

Reviewed in Canada on February 26, 2018

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It's the 1960s in the American south. Two boys, one black, the other white, are best friends. Even with desegregation, society would keep them apart, but they stay true to their friendship. It's a beautifully illustrated book, and the story brings the history of segregation--and what it meant to live in a segregated society--alive for readers.

Julie O'Donohue

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on July 21, 2015

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Great book to teach about diversity/differences and acceptance. Great condition and very fast shipping

Bubusca

Les enfants savent-ils plus que les adultes?

Reviewed in France on October 26, 2017

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J'ai adoré ce livre. Une très belle histoire entre deux enfants, deux amis, qui ne faisaient aucune attention à la différence de leur couleur de peau.

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