Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom
My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March
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4.8 • 20 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A memoir of the Civil Rights Movement from one of its youngest heroes
A Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor Book
Kirkus Best Books of 2015
Booklist Editors' Choice 2015
BCCB Blue Ribbon 2015
As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Albama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can be heroes. Jailed nine times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans. In this memoir, she shows today's young readers what it means to fight nonviolently (even when the police are using violence, as in the Bloody Sunday protest) and how it felt to be part of changing American history.
Straightforward and inspiring, this beautifully illustrated memoir brings readers into the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, complementing Common Core classroom learning and bringing history alive for young readers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lowery's dogged participation as a teen in the fight for equal civil rights as told to Leacock and Buckley (collaborators on Journeys for Freedom and other titles) offers a gripping story told in conversational language. "We learned the drill real quick: We went to jail, we came back out, and then we went to jail again.... Pretty soon we knew to take our own little bologna sandwiches... because jail food just wasn't good." The matter-of-fact tone often belies the danger Lowery and other protesting teenagers faced. Enhancing the narrative's appeal are Loughran's dramatic comics style illustrations, which accompany archival photos. As the 1965 march to Montgomery drew closer, Lowery found herself in increasingly dangerous situations (e.g., the sweatbox in jail or being tear-gassed). Undeterred by fear, she joined the historic march, offering her description of what it was like as the youngest participant on the wet, four-day journey. In time to mark the march's 50th anniversary, this recounting informs and inspires. An afterword briefly explains U.S. segregation history and profiles people who lost their lives in connection with the march. Ages 12 up.
Customer Reviews
Amazing book!
This book is amazing, I usually don't get in to reading or learning but this book is awesome because it simplifies all that history and shows you how it happens from the point of view of a child! Great book you should read it!