Martin's Big Words

Martin's Big Words

Written by: Doreen Rappoport
Illustrated by: Bryan Collier

Elementary Grades

"A brief biography of Dr. Martin Luther King uses memorable words from his speeches to highlight important moments in his life. Large type and arresting collages draw the reader’s attention to Dr. King’s powerful statements. Bryan Collier grabs the reader’s emotional attention with collages made from watercolor, torn paper, and photographic images. each illustration powerfully and passionately interprets the big words spoken by Dr. King. Beginning with the strong, striking cover portrait and stained glass end papers, he conveys a reverential feeling in his art, which causes the reader to pause and think about the meaning of Dr. King’s important words."

American Library Association Review

Awards:
Coretta Scott King Honor Book, 2002
Orbis Pictus Award Winner for Outstanding Nonfiction, 2002
Caldecott Honor Book, 2002

Web Resources:
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=92

Freedom on the Menu

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins

Written by: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by: Jerome LaGarrique

"Set in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960, this picture book tells a story of desegregation from the viewpoint of one little girl. Growing up in the South, Connie understands that there are places where she and other African Americans can and cannot eat, drink, swim, and use the bathroom. But after Dr. King visits the local college chapel to preach and her older siblings become active in the NAACP, she also knows that her people are working for change.

When her brother's friends sit down at a dime-store lunch counter that refuses them service, their act of peaceful protest starts a wave of similar demonstrations that brings better times to their community and throughout the South. An author's note gives background information about the events in Greensboro that year. Simple and straightforward, the first-person narrative relates events within the context of one close-knit family. Though rather dark, the well-composed, painterly illustrations show up well from a distance. A handsome book for classroom reading, even for middle-grade students."

Booklist Review

Web Resources:
http://www.caroleweatherford.com/freedom_lesson_plan.htm

Rosa

Rosa

Written by: Nikki Giovanni
Illustrated by: Bryan Collier

"Fifty years after her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus, Mrs. Rosa Parks is still one of the most important figures in the American civil rights movement. This tribute to Mrs. Parks is a celebration of her courageous action and the events that followed.

Award-winning poet, writer, and activist Nikki Giovanni’s evocative text combines with Bryan Collier’s striking cut-paper images to retell the story of this historic event from a wholly unique and original perspective."

Publishers Synopsis

Online Resources:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonplans/bookfairs/currconnection/rosa.htm
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/video.jsp?pID=1640149541&bcpid=1640149541&bclid=1557820329&bctid=1688353958

If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks

If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks

Written and Illustrated by: Faith Ringgold

"If a bus could talk, it would tell the story of a young African-American girl named Rosa who had to walk miles to her one-room schoolhouse in Alabama while white children rode to their school in a bus. It would tell how the adult Rosa rode to and from work on a segregated city bus and couldn't sit in the same row as a white person. It would tell of the fateful day when Rosa refused to give up her seat to a white man and how that act of courage inspired others around the world to stand up for freedom.

In this book a bus does talk, and on her way to school a girl named Marcie learns why Rosa Parks is the mother of the Civil Rights movement. At the end of Marcie's magical ride, she meets Rosa Parks herself at a birthday party with several distinguished guests. Wait until she tells her class about this!"

Publishers Description

Online Resources:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/rosa/index.htm