Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 2-4. In this unusual book, Ransome makes a strong visual statement about equality in the U.S. The first half of the book shows large, dramatic scenes of segregated America: the separate, unequal water fountains, the library with a "Colored Entrance" leading to a collection of tattered books. Then come pictures depicting the years of protest, with black children guarded by soldiers as they enter their new school and adults physically harassed but unmoved during a lunch-counter sit-in. Finally, the justice and happiness of an inclusive America is depicted as people eat, read, and share together. The images extend to the book's endpapers: collage pictures of the American flag before and after Jim Crow. At the book's beginning, the stars appear on bits of cloth so thin that you can see through them, while the stripes are made up of alternating rows of small images of black America and white America. At the book's conclusion, a sturdy, starred blue cloth connects with bright, patchwork panels of patterned cloth, and the whole is supported on a map, a multicultural collage from which faces beam with happiness. The rhythmic verse tells the story of the civil rights struggle with simplicity and power, while the images bring the concepts home in a way that children will see and feel. An excellent resource for discussing the changes of the civil rights era as they benefit all Americans. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ransome (Satchel Paige) creates a striking juxtaposition of closely focused paintings and collage borders incorporating powerful historical photographs. These images will make a strong impression on readers of this expository chronicle of events preceding, during and following the civil rights movement, as Ransome's artwork makes large ideas comprehensible through visual details. The singsong rhythm and "House-that-Jack-Built" meter creates a chilling contrast to what's going on between the lines: "These are the buses-a dime buys a ride,/ but the people are sorted by color inside." Ransome shows the demarcation of the bus's white and black sections, and in a border across the top creates a collage of stirring portraits. Text and artwork similarly depict segrgated lunch counters, libraries and schools. One of the most powerful spreads portrays three black children stepping into a newly integrated school ("These are the students who step through the doors/ where people of color have not walked before"), Confederate flags flying, while a photocollage on the top edge shows the fractured images of angry white bystanders, effectively emulating a mob mentality. Concluding spreads demonstrate the contrast today, with images of a multiracial array of people waiting to use the same drinking fountain and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in one voice at school. This will provide a solid springboard for adult-child discussions, especially since younger readers might need help deciphering some of the poetic narrative's references. All ages. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 6-A chronicle of the Civil Rights movement presented through lyrical verses and distinguished illustrations. Ransome juxtaposes collaged archival photographs and newspaper clippings with his paintings (he credits Romare Bearden and Robert Rauschenberg as influences). The book opens with an image of two very stark and separate drinking fountains with identifying signs spanning the pages ("These are the fountains/that stand in the square,/and the black-and-white signs/say who will drink where"). Segregated buses, lunch counters, libraries, and schools are followed by a series of paintings of the civil rights heroes who partook in nonviolent protests and boycotts. Each succinct and evocative verse is accompanied by a double-page image. At the book's center are portraits of Ella Baker, Walter White, Thurgood Marshall, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., placed on a black-and-white collage of the masses marching. The corresponding verse reads: "These are the leaders whose powerful voices/lift up the marchers demanding new choices.-" A turn of the page presents paintings of people from diverse racial backgrounds interacting on buses, in restaurants, and in parks. Like Doreen Rappaport's Martin's Big Words (Hyperion, 2001), this book honors our humanity while leading readers through a painful history. Notes at the end by the authors and the illustrator suggest that as a nation we have seen the "power of nonviolent change," but "the journey is not over." A valuable addition to children's literature.-Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Preschool, Primary) Two picture books celebrate nonviolent change. Delivering Justice tells of W. W. Law, a Savannah mail carrier who worked all his life for civil rights -- registering black voters, organizing boycotts, training protesters. Each handsome double-page spread is headed by a topic (""His Grandma's Prayers,"" ""Levy's Lunch Counter,"" ""Picket Lines""); together these take the reader chronologically through Law's life and place his particular story in the context of the larger struggle. Andrews's full-page oil and collage illustrations foreground elongated forms that radiate strength and dignity. This Is the Dream takes a broader view, opening with rhyming descriptions (in a familiar ""this is the..."" format) of life in the segregated South: ""These are the buses -- a dime buys a ride, / but the people are sorted by color inside."" Subsequent spreads describe the protests and boycotts of the civil rights movement (""These are the passengers, on weary feet, / walking until they can choose their own seat""); final verses reflect today's realities (""This is the bus that roars through the streets, / and all of the passengers choose their own seats""). The verse is less than memorable, the history necessarily oversimplified, but for young children the book clearly connects the dots between then and now, with nonviolent action the catalyst. Ransome's oil paintings are bold and well composed; impressionistic collage borders add emotion and historical context. Review includes the following titles: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights and This is the Dream] (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A soaring tribute to the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement in earnest, if sometimes clumsy, verse and mixed-media collage. After opening with a catalog of segregation, from water fountains and busses to schools and libraries, the writers point to the courageous souls who marched across those lines--"These are the passengers, on weary feet / walking until they can choose their own seat"--then close with visions of today's fountains, tables, busses and classrooms open to all. Ransome illustrates these visions, before and after, with painted figures (some recognizable, others generic) against tumultuous backgrounds and borders that incorporate clipped period photos; he then closes with an array of patriotic symbols. Despite a simplistic implication--countered only by a closing note in smaller type that younger readers may very well skip--that the movement's work is done, even children unfamiliar with the struggle's origins and landmark events will come away with profound appreciation for its nonviolent methods, and for its dream of "freedom and justice for all." (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
