SCPL Teens discussion

The year is 1957, three years after the supreme court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional in Brown .v. Board of education. States dislike the idea of desegregated schools so the process was a slow one. In Little Rock Arkansas, 9 brave young people of color prepare to be the first to desegregate their town's high school. Warriors don’t cry is a memoir written by Melba Patillo Beals, one of the 9 African Americans who took part in the integration of central high school, in little rock nine. The book is a first-hand account of the daily struggles that Melba and the other 8 students faced in the battle to desegregate a previously all white school.

If I were asked to rate this book I would give it a four out of five. The author uses specific word choices to help the reader create images in their mind as they read. Melba mentions the good parts of the struggles they face, to show that some days were good. She lists a few times when some people were willing to risk their lives to help her and her friends. Ms.Patillio tells the story in such a compelling manner that when I was reading it I was captivated from beginning to end. The only thing I would have recommended is that Ms.Pattillo also ask her other friends to summarize their struggles so that she would have incorporated them into the book. She states in her book that boys faced worse punishments than girls but didn’t go into much detail.