Summary
A memoir of the Civil Rights Movement from one of its youngest heroes
A Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor Book
Kirkus Best Books of 2015
Booklist Editors' Choice 2015
BCCB Blue Ribbon 2015
As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Albama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can be heroes. Jailed nine times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans. In this memoir, she shows today's young readers what it means to fight nonviolently (even when the police are using violence, as in the Bloody Sunday protest) and how it felt to be part of changing American history.
Straightforward and inspiring, this beautifully illustrated memoir brings readers into the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, complementing Common Core classroom learning and bringing history alive for young readers.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review:
"*Starred Review* By the time I was fifteen years old, I had been in jail nine times. So opens Lowery's account of growing up in Selma, Alabama, during the troubled 1960s, as the African American community struggled for voting rights. At 13, Lynda and other students began slipping out of school to participate in marches. At 14, she was first arrested. After many peaceful protests, Lynda and others marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge into a violent attack by state troopers and sheriffs' deputies on what became known as Bloody Sunday. Though beaten on the head, she returned two weeks later for the march from Selma to Montgomery and the Voting Rights Act was passed later that year. The plain-spoken language of this memoir makes it all the more moving, while Lowery's detail-rich memories of her community, their shared purpose, and her own experiences make it particularly accessible to young readers. Illustrations include archival photos and original artwork that uses line and color expressively. A concluding page comments that the Supreme Court recently struck down part of the Voting Rights Act, and notes that who has the right to vote is still being decided today. This inspiring personal story illuminates pivotal events in America's history.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2015 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review:
"Lowery's dogged participation as a teen in the fight for equal civil rights-as told to Leacock and Buckley (collaborators on Journeys for Freedom and other titles)-offers a gripping story told in conversational language. "We learned the drill real quick: We went to jail, we came back out, and then we went to jail again.... Pretty soon we knew to take our own little bologna sandwiches... because jail food just wasn't good." The matter-of-fact tone often belies the danger Lowery and other protesting teenagers faced. Enhancing the narrative's appeal are Loughran's dramatic comics-style illustrations, which accompany archival photos. As the 1965 march to Montgomery drew closer, Lowery found herself in increasingly dangerous situations (e.g., the sweatbox in jail or being tear-gassed). Undeterred by fear, she joined the historic march, offering her description of what it was like as the youngest participant on the wet, four-day journey. In time to mark the march's 50th anniversary, this recounting informs and inspires. An afterword briefly explains U.S. segregation history and profiles people who lost their lives in connection with the march. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
| Subjects |
Lowery, Lynda Blackmon,
-- 1950-
Selma to Montgomery Rights March
-- (1965 :
-- Selma, Ala.)
-- Juvenile literature.
Selma to Montgomery Rights March
-- (1965 :
-- Selma, Ala.)
African Americans
-- Civil rights
-- Alabama
-- Selma
-- History
-- 20th century
-- Juvenile literature.
African Americans
-- Suffrage
-- Alabama
-- Selma
-- History
-- 20th century
-- Juvenile literature.
Civil rights movements
-- Alabama
-- Selma
-- History
-- 20th century
-- Juvenile literature.
African Americans
-- Civil rights
-- Alabama
-- Selma
-- History
-- 20th century.
African Americans
-- Suffrage
-- Alabama
-- Selma
-- History
-- 20th century.
Civil rights movements
-- Alabama
-- Selma
-- History
-- 20th century.
Selma (Ala.)
-- Race relations
-- Juvenile literature.
Selma (Ala.)
-- Race relations.
Biographies.
|
| Publisher |
New York :Dial Books,2015
|
| Other Titles |
Turning fifteen on the road to freedom
|
| Contributors |
Leacock, Elspeth,
contributor.
Buckley, Susan Washburn,
contributor.
Loughran, PJ,
illustrator.
|
| Language |
English
|
| Awards |
Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor Book, 2016
|
| Description |
127 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
|
| ISBN |
9780803741232
0803741235
9781518210624
1518210627
|
| Other |
Classic View |