Author: John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
Year Published: 2015
Genre: YA non-fiction
Pages: 180
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location (my 2017 Google Reading map): USA (AL, MS)
FTC Disclosure: I bought this book for myself
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): After the success of the Nashville sit-in campaign, John Lewis is more committed than ever to changing the world through nonviolence--but as he and his fellow Freedom Riders board a bus into the vicious heart of the deep south, they will be tested like never before.
Faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment, arson, and even murder, the movement's young activists place their lives on the line while internal conflicts threaten to tear them apart. But their courage will attract the notice of powerful allies, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy...and once Lewis is elected chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, this 23-year-old will be thrust into the national spotlight, becoming one of the "Big Six" leaders of the civil rights movement and a central figure in the landmark 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Review: The fight for civil rights in the United States is such an interesting and powerful time in our history. And a well done graphic novel is a great way to show teenagers what it was like. The images and drawings in this book are powerful in their black and white starkness; they are all angles.
And the story is a good one, of course. It's real and raw. Every time I see a documentary or fictionalized movie or read a book about this era I am reminded of the bravery, the courage, the fear, and the excitement. John Lewis has captured all of that in this book. What I also like is that we see some of the inner workings of the various groups that worked to gain rights: the infighting, the organizing, and the deals.
To me, the most amazing part of this story is that nonviolent protest was met with such violence.
I really look forward to reading March: Book Three, especially since it just won four (yes, 4!) of the American Library Association's awards yesterday.
Challenges with which this book helps me:
FTC Disclosure: I bought this book for myself
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): After the success of the Nashville sit-in campaign, John Lewis is more committed than ever to changing the world through nonviolence--but as he and his fellow Freedom Riders board a bus into the vicious heart of the deep south, they will be tested like never before.
Faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment, arson, and even murder, the movement's young activists place their lives on the line while internal conflicts threaten to tear them apart. But their courage will attract the notice of powerful allies, from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy...and once Lewis is elected chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, this 23-year-old will be thrust into the national spotlight, becoming one of the "Big Six" leaders of the civil rights movement and a central figure in the landmark 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
As in Book 1, the artwork is powerful. The images are all black, white, and shades of grey, giving the reader a sense of the intensity of the events.
And the story is a good one, of course. It's real and raw. Every time I see a documentary or fictionalized movie or read a book about this era I am reminded of the bravery, the courage, the fear, and the excitement. John Lewis has captured all of that in this book. What I also like is that we see some of the inner workings of the various groups that worked to gain rights: the infighting, the organizing, and the deals.
To me, the most amazing part of this story is that nonviolent protest was met with such violence.
I really look forward to reading March: Book Three, especially since it just won four (yes, 4!) of the American Library Association's awards yesterday.
Challenges with which this book helps me:
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