By Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
Fifth grader Olivia whizzed through her first book for our Mock Newbery project. She came in first thing Tuesday morning to tell me all about it and we made a date for lunch this afternoon to blog about it. If you ask Olivia, it's a winner. Multiple stickers perhaps? Newbery? Sibert? CSK? Here are her thoughts:
This was a perfect book for me. It's a nonfiction story, mostly made of poems. Since I like history (so much that when I'm older I want to be an archaeologist), I loved this book.
The year is 1956 in Clinton, Tennessee. High school student Jo Ann and her fellow African American family and friends were separated from the whites. The whites had better schools, better homes, better places to drink water and relax. It seemed they had a better life in their hands. Jo Ann had a dream to go to the whites-only Clinton High School. But it was all white. Since she lived in the south, obviously she couldn't go. Then one day, Jo Ann, her best friend, Gail-Ann and ten other African Americans had a chance to go to Clinton High School. But it didn't go well. People had signs at the entrance and threatened them.
This might have scared or stopped some people from going to the school, but not Jo Ann. She wouldn't let this stuff get under her skin. Each day she came back to the school and the crowd of people with the signs got bigger and bigger. Some of the African Americans left to go some place else, but not Jo Ann. Some of them just couldn't take the violence. At this point, I got emotional. I felt bad for all the kids who dreamed of getting a good education but couldn't. I also felt guilty. Even though I didn't do it, I still feel horrible that it happened.
I recommend this book because I couldn't put it down for so many reasons! It was interesting to me and lots of books just aren't. All the books I enjoy bring feelings to my head or mind and this one did. The lessons are so important in this book, too. Just because someone is different from you doesn't mean that you can hurt their feelings. Because we are all human and we're not all perfect.
***FIVE STARS!***
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