I ended up choosing Claudette Colin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose for my first choice. I’ve read Hoose’s work before, with Hey, Little Ant being a top pick. Since I had also attended the Association of Library Services to Children Awards ceremony at the American Library Association’s Mid-Winter Meetings in Boston in January 2010, I had witnessed this particular book being named as a finalist for several awards. I’ll admit that all the attention centered on this particular book peaked my attention.
Once I started reading, I could not put the book down. In Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, Hoose recounts the impetus for the Montgomery, AL, bus boycotts in 1955 and 1956. In the process, I learned a lot about United States history that I never learned in school or, as a teacher, have taught. This story opens with a review of segregation in the South, which sets the tone and setting for the remainder of the book. Then, Hoose introduces readers to Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old African-American young lady fed up with segregation and the inferior manners of treating people. Nine months prior to Rosa Park’s famous arrest for refusing to give her bus seat to a white person, young Claudette did the same thing. Not only that, she became one of four such ladies to sue the city of Montgomery and the state of Alabama for unfair segregation laws and practices in transportation. They won the landmark case that ended the year-long bus boycotts in Montgomery.
I loved this book for several reasons. First, I learned about a strong courageous woman who was determined to stand up for her beliefs at all costs. It also taught me how our simple decisions today can shape the outcome of the remainder of our lives. Secondly, this book was powerful with its inclusions of interviews of Claudette, her family, friends, and other key players in the boycott and trial. Third, the book contains powerful photographs, newspaper clippings and other images that give readers a better understanding of the mood of the time period and what Claudette endured. I feel that this book is an excellent and must-have inclusion for all school libraries.
For my second Newbery award winner, I chose to read the 2007 Caldecott
Medal recipient, The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. In this book, 10-year-old Lucky is being cared for by a guardian in the small town (population 47) of Hard Pan, California, after her mother’s accidental death two years earlier. Lucky feels abandoned and worries that her guardian will leave her to return to her native France. To that end, Lucky stages running away so that she can teach her guardian, Brigitte, a lesson on learning how much she loves Lucky.
I was a little less enthused about this book for young people. First, a male body part is mentioned on the third page and in the conclusion, one of the characters explains to the 10-year-old narrator, Lucky, what it is. Curious, I read reviews of the book and most seem to feel that it is okay for the inclusion of the word and description since most children at the age of the audience should know the proper words for body parts. While I agree that children do need to learn the proper terminology, I think that it should be up to the parent to decide when to introduce that vocabulary to their children. And, I think you have to know your audience. Not all children have the maturity to deal with that word and it could prevent them from grasping the meaning in the rest of the story. So, I was disappointed that the author thrust this word upon her audience when I don’t feel that it furthers the plot or story in any way. Secondly, the main character, Lucky, began to annoy me. She ran away during the middle of a dust storm, when she knew that the friends who loved her would be most worried. To top it off, she caused a young friend, Miles, to inadvertently get lost in the dust storm and once she finds him, she feels as if he has ruined her chance for the spotlight because the attention will now be focused on him. She is rude to him and once they are found, she doesn’t confess to the running away but instead pretends that she was there all along to spread her mother’s ashes. She was not punished or did not suffer any consequences. To me, these actions caused the plot to be unrealistic and the character to be unbelievable. In reality, there are consequences for your actions and not everything turns out as smoothly as it did for Lucky. I didn’t enjoy this book because it did not seem like realistic fiction.
The next award I plan on reading is a winner from the Coretta Scott King Award. I’m hoping that it turns out a little bit better than my last Newbery Medal read.
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