Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Enter the children’s section in any bookstore or library and you are bound to see a display of titles from the Little People, BIG DREAMS picture book series. Written for very young readers, they include titles on a range of activists, religious leaders, artists, […]
Risking Everything: A Freedom Summer Reader
Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: This year marks the 50th anniversary of a milestone event in U.S. history, Freedom Summer. The largest collection of primary documents from Freedom Summer is now housed (much available online) at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Continue reading.
The Teachers March! How Selma’s Teachers Changed History
Reviewed by Jenice L. View Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Overall, this book is very well researched and cited. It centers Black people, their strategic thinking, and their agency at a time when the national story of the Black freedom movement was being complicated by heightened white supremacist violence, rising resistance to the […]
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks: Young Readers Edition
Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: Presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks as the quiet seamstress performed a single act that sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and birthed the modern Civil Rights Movement, Jeanne Theoharis provides a revealing window into Parks’ politics and decades of activism. She shows readers how […]
Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reviewed by Amy Rothschild Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: This beautifully illustrated book weaves together the story of King’s life with “big words” from his speeches. Teachers can help children translate these words, like “you are as good as anyone,” and “everyone can be great,” to their own experiences. The author does a […]
When Rosa Parks Went Fishing
Reviewed by Brianne Pitts Review Source: Independent Book Author: A picture book rendition of young Rosa Parks’ early life hopes to explore the joy, challenges, and agency of her childhood in rural Alabama. Though promising, like many well-meaning educators teaching the story of Rosa Parks, this text leaves readers with a sterile story that reinforces […]