31. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

CLAUDETTE COLVIN: TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE by Phillip Hoose (Melanie Kroupa Books, 2009)

GENRE: Nonfiction

HONORS: Carter G. Woodson Book Award, Cybil Award Finalist, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor, John Newbery Medal Honor, National Book Award Winner, Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children Recommended, Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor, School Library Journal Battle of the Kids’ Books Nominee, Society of School Librarians International Book Awards Honor Book, YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist

REVIEW:

While most people know of the impact that Rosa Parks had on the civil rights movement, few are aware of the fifteen-year-old girl that refused to move from her seat nearly nine months prior.  As the first African-American to challenge her arrest after being dragged off of the bus, Claudette Colvin got the attention of civil rights leaders.  She even risked her life in order to testify as one of four witnesses in the court case to desegregate the buses.  However, with becoming pregnant shortly after her arrest and coming from a poor family, leaders abandoned Colvin as not the right face for the cause and her name slipped from accounts of the movement for years.  With this book, Hoose gives readers an in-depth look at Colvin’s life during the civil rights movement, bringing awareness to a teen’s tremendous courage in a time when many adults would not stand up.

OPINION:

This is an important book for all tweens and teens to read.  Not only will they learn more about the civil rights movement and the injustices that supporters were able to overcome, but Claudette Colvin’s story highlights the strong impact that teens can have on pushing for change.  In the Author’s Note, Hoose writes, “Hers is a story of a wise and brave woman who, when was a smart, angry teenager in Jim Crow Alabama, made contributions to human rights far too important to be forgotten” (p. 107).  Through reading this book, Colvin’s story may inspire some tweens and teens to fight against the social injustices that still exist in the world, giving them hope that their age will not be a barrier to making real change.

IDEAS:

This would be a great book to include in a library display about the civil rights movement, as well as one about teen activists.  The book could be used in a library program about youth activism, inspiring tweens to do something as simple as writing to their congressmen or making a petition for something they believe in.