This Is the Dream - Hardcover

Diane Z. Shore; James Ransome; Jessica Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 006055519X ISBN 13: 9780060555191

Publisher: Amistad Books for Young Readers, 2005

Synopsis

Our nation was founded on the belief that all men are created equal. Nearly two hundred years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, slavery had been abolished but America was still segregated.

Then: Enter the students who marched into the first desegregated school, the passengers who boycotted the buses, and the leaders who stood up and spoke out. When they started, it was all just a dream. . . .

Through striking, powerful verse and gorgeous, detailed illustrations, this is the dream catalogs the American experience before, during, and after the civil rights movement. Come along on this incredible journey, and see how far we've come in attaining freedom and justice for all.

About this title

About the Author

Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander have collaborated on several children's books, including This Is the Dream and This Is the Game. One thing they have learned while cowriting stories is that when people work together, great things can happen. Both authors live with their families in metro Atlanta, Georgia.

James Ransome has illustrated more than fifty books for children. His titles include The Creation by James Weldon Johnson, winner of the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award; Uncle Jed’s Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book; and My Name Is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth by Ann Turner. He lives in New York State and teaches illustration at Syracuse University. See more of his work at www.jamesransome.com.

Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander have collaborated on several children's books, including This Is the Dream and This Is the Game. One thing they have learned while cowriting stories is that when people work together, great things can happen. Both authors live with their families in metro Atlanta, Georgia.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 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
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About this edition

• Publisher: Amistad Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 006055519X
• ISBN 13: 9780060555191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40