Recently I visited the Washington Middle School for Girls, in Washington DC. The appearance was arranged through An Open Book Children’s Literacy Foundation, a non-profit organization formed “to improve literacy among disadvantaged children and teens in the greater Washington, D.C. area by giving schools and students books and access to authors and illustrators.” I was… Read more »
Every student knows the Rosa Parks story. When students discover there was a teenager before Rosa and a teenager that was silenced, their sense of injustice is piqued. The students connect with Claudette Colvin because they know what it feels like to be ignored or dismissed because of their age. Katherine Rosario spoke nicely about… Read more »
Our thanks to Bloggity Blog Blog for the post More Than Just a History Lesson for encouraging a taste of Civil Rights History in English class… “Although I know that there will be English teachers who won’t like to teach a book like this and see it better fit in a history class, we as… Read more »
“Did you know that someone before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white person? Did you know that someone was a fifteen year old girl” So begins the wonderful review of Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Ms. Hughes who teaches 6th Grade Reading at Wilde Lake Middle… Read more »
I hoped that Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice would change the way we talk about the Montgomery bus protest. I think it has. It isn’t just that then 15-year-old Claudette Colvin took great risks and suffered great consequences before Rosa Parks famously did exactly what she did nearly a year later. It is, that as… Read more »
As this African American History Month comes to a close and the book celebrates its second anniversary with a paperback release, it is gratifying to see Claudette’s name so often mentioned alongside that of Rosa Parks. Even the White House dog, Bo mentioned Claudette’s contribution in his blog: “While it was clearly Rosa Parks’ destiny to… Read more »
I thank School & Library Journal for asking me to choose my “favorite children’s book about the black experience” for their article “Places in the Heart: Celebrating Black History Month“. This article is well worth a read to build your library with recommendations from authors: Sharon Draper, Russell Freedman, Nikki Grimes, Angela Johnson, Cynthia Kadohata,… Read more »