Illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Rating: Very Good
HarperCollins, 2008, $17.89
HarperCollins, 2008, $17.89
ISBN: 9780060821197
Age/Grade Level: grades 2-4
An intriguing, but not entirely successful effort to evoke the feeling of the blues in art and poetic prose. The subject is the 1955 bus boycott inspired by Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama. Brian Pinkney's swirling, ink-filled illustrations complement his wife, Andrea Davis Pinkney's, soulful narration, which begins, "Child, child. You have not known weary till you have walked in my shoes." What may be too abstract for children to grasp is their decision to picture a dog for "dog-tired" and a swirly black, almost unrecognizable crow as Jim Crow personified, going peck-peck-peck as Rosa Parks and others come up against the laws of segregation. This would be most effective read aloud by someone who could do justice to the African American speech patterns.
Reviewer: Mary Smith, Orange County Public Library/El Toro Branch
