Rosa's Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights - Hardcover

Kittinger, Jo S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1590787226 ISBN 13: 9781590787229

Publisher: Calkins Creek, 2010

Synopsis

Celebrate the remarkable heroism of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott in this illustrated Black history book for kids, told from the perspective of Bus #2857!

Free-verse stanzas and gorgeous, large-scale oils bring to life a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement that changed American history.

Like all buses in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s, Bus #2857 was segregated: white passengers sat in the front, and Black passengers sat in the back.

Bus #2857 was ordinary—until a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. After Rosa’s arrest, Bus #2857’s passengers chose to walk rather than ride the buses in Montgomery for 382 days.

In this children’s picture book for ages 7-10, Bus #2857 tells the remarkable story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott—from the streets it rode to its present-day home in the Henry Ford Museum.

Told with stunning free-verse and oil illustrations, this kids Black history book offers a unique perspective on a major event in the Civil Rights Movement—and celebrates the heroism of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and other freedom riders.

About this title

About the Author

Jo S. Kittinger is the author of more than a dozen books, both fiction and nonfiction. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

Steven Walker is an illustrator whose numerous clients include Highlights for Children and the Boy Scouts of America. He lives in Westerville, Virginia.

Reviews

In an inventive approach, this handsome picture book frames the biography of Rosa Parks with the story of the bus on which she famously refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Beginning with where the bus was built and first driven, the free-verse narrative and dramatic oil paintings tell the larger story of discrimination in daily life: That’s just the way things were is a frequent refrain, and one double-page view of the bus’ interior shows a Colored sign marking the seats. After Parks’ refusal and arrest, there is the drama of the boycott: Bus #2857 rode down the street / with plenty of empty seats. . . . / They walked for 382 days. A climactic picture shows the bus full again, blacks and whites sitting together. With the final long note about the history and the museum where the bus is on display, kids will connect with the unsentimental, contemporary message: Imagine where it has been / and where we have yet to go. Grades 2-5. --Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Calkins Creek
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1590787226
• ISBN 13: 9781590787229
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Walker Steven
• Number of pages: 40