1957

by Susan Taylor

Key events of the Civil Rights Movement will be brought to life in this new series.
The years spanning from 1955-1965 in US History were critical to the Civil Rights Movement. With stunning photographs throughout and rich back matter, this set will chronologically explain how this specific decade brought about change and how it still affects us as a society today. A sampling of the people and events include:

1955: Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, Montgomery bus boycott
1957: Little Rock 9, Civil Rights Act of 1957, MLK Jr meeting in Atlanta
1960: Greensboro 4, sit-ins, Ruby Bridges
1963: University of Alabama, March on Washington, Birmingham bombings
1965: Selma to Montgomery March, Voting Rights Act, Malcolm X

Key features:
• Each book addresses major moments in civil rights history, organized chronologically, ties into the school curriculum
• Sidebars, at least one per chapter (mix of cultural references and explanations of more complex terms)
• Back matter: timeline, glossary, reference materials, mini-bio of a modern civil rights activist, and more
• Brand new series design, historical photos throughout
• Opportunities for series expansion (pre & post-civil rights)

96 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2022

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I first read this book last year when I was asked to review it for carrying at my job which is about the Little Rock Nine. I am reposting my review from Amazon here because I loathe this book that much.
I don't know why writing a completely accurate children's book about the Little Rock Nine seems to elude people but it continues to do so?
To preface I am a public historian in Little Rock and my job is to educate on the Little Rock Nine, so those are my qualifications.
Upon a quick look through I found three errors in the book:
A photo of North Little Rock High listed as Central.
A photo of four fully grown Black men (perhaps reporters I don't know) listed as some of the little Rock nine. There weren't even four boys in the Nine?
And a photo of Van Buren Arkansas listed as being Van Buren high IN Little Rock. Thats perhaps the weirdest one. Who sees Van Buren High School and just thinks 'oh yes this must also be in Little Rock ' despite there vein a Van Buren Arkansas?
Lastly, and this is something every author about the Little Rock crisis does, they said there were only nine kids on the first day of school (which is incorrectly listed as September 4th) when there were ten.
The author has a bibliography in the back of the book including the NPS but clearly they didn't spend THAT much time doing proper research.
I expect better from Scholastic and I really wish these children's history books would have their stuff vetted by historians on the subject.

[Kristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent explanation of the events of 1957 which contributed to the continuation of the Civil Rights movement. This would be an excellent resource in any middle grade classroom.