The lions of Little Rock

The lions of Little Rock

By Kristin Levine

Interest level: Grades 5-8

It's 1958 in Little Rock Arkansas. This is the summer the governor has decided to ignore integration orders and to instead close Little Rock's high schools. Tensions are high and people, including those in the same family, do not always stand on the same side of the issues. Twelve-year old Marlee Nesbitt has one of those families. Her parents are both teachers- her dad at a junior high and her mom at a high school. Marlee prefers not to talk. It's not that she doesn't have plenty to say, it's that she prefers not to say them out loud. Then she meets Liz, the new girl at school who always seems to know the right thing to say at the right time. Liz decides she's going to help Marlee find her words, but then it comes out that Liz is a colored girl passing for white so that she can go to Marlee's all-white junior high.

The rest of the story follows not only the history and politics of the time, but also Marlee's growth as a person as she learns to fight for what she believes in. This story clearly and accurately portrays the struggles present in our nation at this painful time in history. Levine's characters on both sides of the segregation issue are well developed and believable.  Pair with Through my eyes by Ruby Bridges.

This advance copy was received from the publisher for review with no compensation. Publication date Jan. 2012.

Levine, K. (2012). The lions of Little Rock. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Birmingham Sunday

Birmingham Sunday

by Larry Dane Brimner

IL: Grades 6 and up

RL: 8+

Birmingham Sunday tells the story of segregation and the impact it had on blacks in the South. The book begins with the account of the horrific day in 1963 when sticks of dynamite were placed under Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church's stairs and detonated during services, killing four young girls. Brinmer then proceeds to provide the back story of the events that lead up to the attack. Birmingham Sunday is highly factual, providing details on the Jim Crow laws of the time, leaders on both sides of the Civil Rights movements, groups like the KKK and NAACP, Brown v. the Board of Education, and the Freedom Rides to name a few. The book is full of photos of the events of the time, allowing the reader to experience the emotions of those involved in the events. There are numerous sidebars which flesh out the story. The pages often contain large quotes that highlight the more detailed accounts given in the paragraphs. The final pages provide biographical information about the four killed as well as information on the men that carried out the attacks.

This book is incredibly powerful. Its treatment of this tumultuous time in American history is stunning. Some of the photographs are very graphic, but they are not used gratuitously, but are there to illustrate the violence that was a daily part of the Civil Rights Movement. The lack of an index make this somewhat difficult to use for specific reports on the Civil Rights Movement, but events at the time were so intertwined that even if a student were doing a report on a specific aspect they could use this for supporting material. Source notes are well detailed and there is a bibliography for further reading. This is an excellent resource for the classroom or for anyone wanting a detailed account of the time period.

Brimner, L.D. (2010). Birmingham Sunday. Honesdale, PA: Calkins Creek.

Chains

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
316 p.
IL: Grades 7-9
RL: 5+

Laurie Halse Anderson does it again! Chains is set in Colonial America in 1776. Young Isabel is a slave girl whose master, Miss Finch, has recently died. While mourning her master’s death, Isabel’s attention is really focused on freedom. You see, Finch has told Isabel  that her will states that upon her death Isabel and her younger sister, Ruth- who she describes as simple- will be freed. Unfortunately,  Finch’s nephew has other ideas and the lawyer who drafted the will has left the area on business.

The girls are sold the the highest bidders- The Lockton’s who are Loyalists. The are taken from Rhode Island to New York where Isabel soon finds that her mistress is a very cruel lady. At the urging of a slave with Patriot ties Isabel soon begins to spy hoping that this will lead to her freedom. She soon finds that the road to freedom doesn’t lie with either the Patriots or the Loyalists and that she must seek it herself if she hopes to save herself and Ruth.

This book is painful to read at times as Anderson does not attempt to shield the reader from the brutalities of slavery. However, this story of hope and perseverance is one worth reading. I’m looking forward to Forge and the other installments in this series.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. (2008). Chains. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.