I ALMOST FORGOT TO POST MY DRAFT ... I KNOW ITS A FEW MINUTES LATE BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY, IT IS DEFINITELY ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS!!
The Coretta Scott King Awards are presented annually by the American Library Association to honor African-American authors and illustrators who create outstanding books for children and young adults. The award was first started in 1969 to be awarded to authors and then was expanded to include a separate award for illustrators in 1979. The awards are given to remember the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her continuing efforts in working for peace and civil rights issues.
The Coretta Scot King Book Award also presents the John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Jerome Lagarrigue received this award for his illustrations in Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles. This book is a multicultural book, it approaches the Civil Rights Act from an unexpected perspective and because of this, it is an extremely powerful story, one that could be beneficial to any classroom or person, young or old.
Freedom Summer has been one of my favorite books since the first time it was read aloud to me by a college professor. The professor wanted to share the book with the class, which was a course on creating inclusion classes and she thought it was appropriate to speak about differences and how to overcome differences. The professor read the book aloud during class and I returned to my dorm that night and ordered the book from Amazon.com. After receiving the book, I proceeded to show it to each and every one of my friends (who were also elementary and secondary education majors). Everyone loved the book.
Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles is about two boys in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. One boy is white, Joe, and one boy is African American, his name is John Henry. The story depicts a time right after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Joe narrates the book, telling of the times Joe and John spend swimming together in the creek because John is not allowed in the public pool. The boys decide that on the day the Civil Rights Act is passed and enacted, they will visit the town pool together. On that day, instead of swimming in the public pool, the boys are faced with a work crew filling in the pool with asphalt. The way the author wrote the story, having Joe narrate, makes it more powerful by seeing it through the eyes of an innocent young boy who doesn't think the way most people in that time would have. The illustrator Jerome Lagarrigue, who received the John Steptoe Award for New Talent for Freedom Summer did an awesome job with the illustrations. Lagarrigue used close-up portraits of the boys' faces to bring their emotions to the pages as well as using specific poses for the other characters to bring in their body language and feelings. Overall, one of my favorites! I hope you enjoy!
Amanda, your post is so powerful, it almost moved me to tears. I can hear the emotion in your own voice regarding the way in which this book makes you feel! I completely agree with you that one of the most unique and powerful ways to address serious social and political issues to children is to read books that are written from a child's perspective. These are serious civil rights issues that I find are mentioned in most of the books that have won the Coretta Scott King Award. They are not only beautifully written but it is also imperative that these messages of tolerance and acceptance are passed on to our children at an early age. This books sounds quite lovely and I particularly love the notion that the caucasian boy, Joe, has no idea what the big deal is about, he did not see the world in the same color-coded way that most adults did. This innocence is what makes children so magical and is perhaps one of the most influential ways to write a story with such serious undertones.
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