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Wow --- I now see and agree with all the accolades heaped on this book. I'd had it sitting around for weeks before I reluctantly began reading it --- once I did I was engrossed. Hoose's research is remarkable, but it is the way he seamlessly interweaves Claudette's own memories with his third person account (sprinkled with other quotes) that is just wonderful. I absolutely loved, loved, loved this book.
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It's amazing to me that Claudette Colvin was virtually unknown before this book. And what a great thing that the book's turned out to be quite the award magnet. Maybe next year Outkast will write a jam about her.
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First read May 2012
Reread March 2013
Reread March, 2014
Reread March 2013
Reread March, 2014
Thoroughly researched and extremely well-written, this wonderful book brings to light an episode in history of which I was completely unaware. Claudette Colvin was a teenager when she refused to give up her bus seat on a Montgomery bus months before Rosa Parks. The story of what happened to her and how the Montgomery community worked towards the famous boycott held me from the first page. In addition, the author's incredibly detailed notes in the back matter, describe his initial response to lea
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amazing non-fiction about Claudette Colvin, a forgotten pioneer of the civil rights. filled with photographs, personal narratives, and historical facts about the south. this would be an excellent book to use when teaching middle and high school students about civil rights, and is well-deserving of the National Book Award it won.
several quotes i particularly liked:
"...history is made up of objective facts and personal truths, braided together."
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywher ...more
several quotes i particularly liked:
"...history is made up of objective facts and personal truths, braided together."
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywher ...more
With clear, compelling text and a nice complement of photos and newspaper clippings, this is a stand-out piece of non-fiction. It focuses on Colvin's part of the story of civil rights, but also gives a sense of the larger picture. The text features extensive quotes from interviews with Colvin, which blend fairly seamlessly with Hoose's narrative. Great for elementary and middle school readers, there's plenty of explanation of things like Jim Crow, but these bits of information never bog down the
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This was amazing, but also a bit aggravating. Our politicians pick and choose who becomes our heroes and who becomes the face of a cause. Claudette Colvin challenged the segregated Montgomery bus system after being physically assaulted and forced from a bus when she was only 15. Yet she was young, outspoken and dark-skinned, so it wasn't until Rosa Parks, a mild-mannered, middle-aged light-skinned woman did the same thing after Colvin, that we had a civil rights hero on our hands.
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A remarkable story. This one earned its National Book Award. It was a quick read, but I learned so much about Claudette. She was a young woman of incredible strength and fortitude. She did what others wouldn't, and she never properly earned the credit for it. What an example. She could have been angry, but she never was. A worth it read.
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Wow. So much I didn't know about the Civil Rights Movement. I learned lots and I was pulled into Colvin's story by the engaging writing.
"The time was ripe for change. There was a growing impatience with segregation...Education may have been the way up, but transportation was the way out." p. 55 ...more
"The time was ripe for change. There was a growing impatience with segregation...Education may have been the way up, but transportation was the way out." p. 55 ...more
First book of 2011. Several of my Children's Lit students had recommended this YA biography of a little known leader in the Montgomery bus boycott who helped change US history. National Book Award Winner
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I never knew that this teenager was the first one to stand up to the segregation on the city buses...before Rosa Parks. Very empowering and disturbing story of her early life.
Claudette refused to give up her Montgomery bus seat 9 months before Rosa Parks, when she was only 15. A tale that needs to be told
Another good introduction to a lesser-known aspect of the civil rights movement. Claudette Colvin was a very brave young woman!
Best book I've read so far this year. Couldn't put it down.
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Nov 18, 2009
CLM
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May 24, 2010
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