Product Description
In this Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year, Paula Young Shelton, daughter of Civil Rights activist Andrew Young, brings a child’s unique perspective to an important chapter in America’s history. Paula grew up in the deep south, in a world where whites had and blacks did not. With an activist father and a community of leaders surrounding her, including Uncle Martin (Martin Luther King), Paula watched and listened to the struggles, eventually joining with her family—and thousands of others—in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery.
Poignant, moving, and hopeful, this is an intimate look at the birth of the Civil Rights Movement.
Review
Starred Review, Booklist, February 1, 2010:"The daughter of civil rights leader Andrew Young remembers her family’s active role in the civil rights movement, beginning when she was four years old...Many adults will want to talk about their memories of the time, and kids will appreciate the child’s intimate viewpoint of world-changing history."
Starred Review, School Library Journal, December 2009:
"History comes alive in this vivid account.”
Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2009:“Civil rights can be a difficult topic, even for adults, so finding simple language to explain the complexity of injustice and oppression to children is challenging. Shelton, daughter of Andrew Young, accepts the challenge and rises to meet it...Essential.”
Review, Publishers Weekly, November 23, 2009:“Both contributors evoke the drama and emotion of the times...and a triumphal sense of community and family.”
About the Author
Paula Young Shelton is the daughter of civil rights leader and former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young. She is a teacher in Washington, D.C., and a member of the National Black Child Development Institute. Her husband, Hilary O. Shelton, is the director of the NAACP Washington Bureau.
Raul Colón is the acclaimed illustrator of numerous children’s books.
If you are going to start teaching children about Civil Rights in the late 50s-60s this is the best place to start. Told from the perspective of a child of activists it outlines the feelings, the words, dispelling confusion and shedding clarity on standing up to things that were wrong.I absolutely love this and think every teacher 1st grade and up should have this in their classroom. Librarians, take note: keep this one in stock. Beautifully written and illustrated.I think lots of white people have NO idea how to teach about civil rights, about racism and this book could help give the words and tools to start that discussion with their children. I can't recommend enough. (Mom to six kids, multi racial family and home school history teacher to children ages 6-14.)
