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Ruth and the Green Book Kindle Edition
The picture book inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film The Green Book
Ruth was so excited to take a trip in her family's new car! In the early 1950s, few African Americans could afford to buy cars, so this would be an adventure. But she soon found out that Black travelers weren't treated very well in some towns. Many hotels and gas stations refused service to Black people. Daddy was upset about something called Jim Crow laws . . .
Finally, a friendly attendant at a gas station showed Ruth's family The Green Book. It listed all of the places that would welcome Black travelers. With this guidebook—and the kindness of strangers—Ruth could finally make a safe journey from Chicago to her grandma's house in Alabama.
Ruth's story is fiction, but The Green Book and its role in helping a generation of African American travelers avoid some of the indignities of Jim Crow are historical fact.
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level2 - 5
- Lexile measure700L
- PublisherCarolrhoda Books ®
- Publication dateNovember 1, 2013
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
From Booklist
Review
"Cooper's glowing, unframed, sepia-toned artwork delivers a strong sense of the period from a child's viewpoint. . . . [T]his is a compelling addition to U.S. history offerings." ―Booklist
"Ramsey fashions a well-told historical narrative, supported by Cooper's expressive paintings." --The Horn Book Guide
"Cooper's soft, stippled illustrations capture both the pathos of the bigotry and the warmth of the support the family encounters, and a substantial closing note on the Green Book itself invites the audience to explore it further online. This will be a fascinating addition to any civil rights picture-book collection." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Cooper masterfully captures the emotions of the characters, filling his pages with three-dimensional individuals. This story touches on a little-known moment in American history with elegance, compassion and humanity." --Kirkus Reviews
"A sense of resiliency courses through Cooper's (Back of the Bus) filmy illustrations―beatific portraits of the Esso worker who sells the family their Green Book and the owner of a 'tourist home' where the family spends the night radiate strength, kindness, and hope for a better future." --Publishers Weekly
"The realistic illustrations are done in oil wash on board, a self-described 'subtractive process.' The picture is painted, then erased to 'paint' the final product. Overall, there is a sepialike quality to the art, giving the impression of gazing at old color photos. This is an important addition to picture book collections, useful as a discussion-starter on Civil Rights or as a stand-alone story." ―starred, School Library Journal
About the Author
Calvin Alexander Ramsey, Atlanta-based playwright, photographer, and folk art painter, grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and Roxboro, North Carolina. In addition to having been a year-round resident of Martha's Vineyard, Calvin has a passion for travel and has lived in New York City; Santa Monica, California; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Croix and St. John.
He is a former Advisory Board Member of the Robert Woodruff Library Special Collections at Emory University in Atlanta. He is also a recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major for Justice Award.
His plays have been performed in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; San Francisco; Valdez, Alaska; Omaha, Nebraska; Baltimore; and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
His plays include Bricktop, The Musical; The Green Book; Damaged Virtues; Canada Lee; Sherman Town, Baseball, Apple Pie and The Klan; Enlightenment; Sister Soldiers; Kentucky Avenue; Somewhere In My Lifetime; Johnny Mercer: A Man and His Music, a musical tribute to the author of Moon River and others; and The Age of Possibilities. His children's books are The Last Mule of Gee's Bend and Ruth and the Green Book.
He is the father of three children, all of whom are writers.
Floyd Cooper (1956-2021) was a Coretta Scott King Award winner and illustrator of numerous books for children including Ruth and the Green Book, A Spy Called James, and Max and the Tag-Along Moon. Unspeakable, one of his final picture books, was a National Book Award longlist title, a Sibert Honor book, and a Caldecott Honor book. He received a degree in fine arts from the University of Oklahoma and went on to develop a distinctive art technique called oil erasure.
Product details
- ASIN : B00GIRTWNA
- Publisher : Carolrhoda Books ®; Illustrated edition (November 1, 2013)
- Publication date : November 1, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 54222 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Not enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Not Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Sticky notes : Not Enabled
- Print length : 36 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0761352554
- Best Sellers Rank: #502,586 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

Gwen Strauss is an award-winning children’s book author and poet, whose titles include Trail of Stones, The Night Shimmy, Ruth and the Green Book, and The Hiding Game. Her forthcoming adult non-fiction book, The Nine will be released in May 2021. Her poetry, short stories and essays have appeared in numerous places including The New Republic, New England Review, Kenyon Review, London Sunday Times and Catapult. She lives in Southern France where she works as the Director of an artist residency and cultural program at the Dora Maar House.

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Top reviews from the United States
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But as a Caucasian dude I wouldn't have likely discovered this book if The Seattle Times' weekly "Autos" advertising feature hadn't highlighted a syndicated piece about the late Victor Green's 3-decade serial (updated regularly btwn. 1936-66) "The Negro Motorist Green Book."
No, this ISN'T a child's book about S&H Green Stamps (Google it!) nor a book about "how to be more 'earth-friendly.'"
Short of being able to procure my own copy of Green's guide (which I'd ultimately donate to my local public library or an appropriate history museum) I couldn't find additional information about the guide.
Since I already have a tiny collection of "kiddy lit," I added "Ruth and the Green Book" to that collection. It's received great reviews from the top children's literature review sources, eg School Library Journal, the American Library Assn.
Great historical fiction and truly good illustrations.
In Ruth and the Green Book, we have the opportunity to view a very real and common situation through the eyes of a child. We feel the hurt of prejudice with her - the shame, the fear, and the confusion that comes with having to face reality as it is. We learn through her experience about the history of the United States. But her triumph, at the end, is personal. It does not belong to a nation.
Because it is not very long, at first I thought that the story would not be adequate to the task of exploring the "Green Book" theme.
But after reading it through, I realized that the story does touch on all the important points, and the author is simply using a judicious economy of words.
The story is all it needs to be, and strikes just the right tone, demonstrating how wrong segregation was from the level of basic humanity.
The book ends up packing quite a powerful punch, but in an understated way.
I'm looking forward to sharing this book with friends, both the old ones and the young ones, and recommending it to others.
Top reviews from other countries
L’histoire en tant que telle, est peu naturelle ayant clairement un but histoirique clair. Je suis contente de mon achat, mais d’autres, ceux qui l’acheterai juste pour lire avec leurs enfants, risque d’être plus déçu






