The Civil Rights Movement (Blast Back!) - Hardcover

Ohlin, Nancy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1499804555 ISBN 13: 9781499804553

Publisher: little bee books, 2017

Synopsis

Get ready to blast back to the past and learn all about the Civil Rights Movement!

When people think about the Civil Rights Movement, things like segregation and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech may come to mind. But what was the movement all about, and what social changes did it bring? This engaging nonfiction book, complete with black-and-white interior illustrations, will make readers feel like they've traveled back in time. It covers everything from Jim Crow laws and protests to major milestones like Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act, and more. Find out interesting, little-known facts such as how Rosa Parks was not the first person of color to refuse to give up her seat on a bus and how most of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech was actually improvised. The unique details along with the clever and humorous interior illustrations make this series stand out from the competition.

About this title

About the Author

Nancy Ohlin is the author of the Blast Back! series, the YA novels Always, Forever, and Beauty, and the early chapter book series Greetings from Somewhere under the pseudonym Harper Paris. She lives in Ithaca, New York, with her husband, their two kids, four cats, and assorted animals who happen to show up at their door. Visit her online at nancyohlin.com.

Roger Simó is an illustrator based in a town near Barcelona, where he lives with his wife, son, and daughter. He has become the person that he would have envied when he was a child: someone who makes a living by drawing and explaining fantastic stories. Among his many projects, he is most proud of the first book he wrote and illustrated about his first child.

From School Library Journal

Gr 3–5—Both books feature easy-to-read type, multiple short chapters, and occasional sidebars, and they are adorned by abundant line drawings done in a light playful tone. In theory, they are a welcome rival for Penguin's "Who Is" series. However, in practice, they fall far short. The Civil Rights Movement begins by asking if readers have ever heard of the movement and then launches into a lengthy and dry explanation—the text doesn't reach the titular topic until page 46. Simó's illustrations do not match the tone of the subject matter and often undercut the content. For instance, smiling cartoon people are just a page turn away from a slave auction scene. In addition, the majority of the people shown protesting in The Civil Rights Movement are white. The Statue of Liberty suffers from the same readability problems. Its illustrations are also equally goofy and insensitive; for example, a group of smiling "Native Americans" (tribes are not specified) is depicted as wearing loin clothes and headbands right before the text discusses European colonization on the next page ("The original Native American inhabitants were forced to leave and try to find new homes to the north and west."). VERDICT Poorly designed and visually misleading.—Sheri Reda, Wilmette Public Library, IL

Edition details

• Publisher: little bee books
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1499804555
• ISBN 13: 9781499804553
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 112
• Illustrator: Simó Roger