Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

Do not be fooled--this hefty picture book is not a light read, nor a young child's pleasant accounting of the civil rights era in America. Instead, it is a meaty, well-researched and exciting account of a little known but historically significant act by a teenager in Montgomery, Alabama.

A year before Rosa Parks made her historic stand by refusing to give up her seat on a bus in that city, Claudette Colvin was dragged from a bus when she dared to challenge the segregated seating rules. Although her family and friends supported her, she was dismissed as a potential leader in what was to become the Montgomery bus boycott. Undaunted a year later, she joined a class action suit against the city in what was to become a landmark court case which overturned segregation in tranportation.
Based on extensive interviews with Claudette Colvin and others directly involved, the author presents the first in-depth account of this major, yet little-known civil rights figure. Many chapters are written from Ms. Colvin's perspective. This is a fantastic read for interested teens. The archival photos and newspaper articles give a contemporary feel to the accounting of historic events.

Claudette Colvin was the recipient of the 2009 National Book Award for young adult literature.

Off to War: Voices of Soldier's Children by Deborah Ellis

The author specializes in creating fiction and nonfiction which carries to her readers the voices of children throughout the world. These are some of her words about this important book:

"Beyond the financial and political costs of these(Iraq and Afghanistan) wars, there is a high human cost. Untold numbers of civilians living in Iraq and Afghanistan, including many children, have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives due to these wars....

But participating in a war as a soldier also carries a high cost. Part of that cost is being paid by the military families who are left behind, especially the children. As the wars drag on, deployments(time spent in war zones) are extended and repeated. Mothers and fathers are returning home altered by their experience of being involved in killing and surrounded by devastation, and sometimes finding their families changed, too in their absence."

OFF TO WAR contains mini-interviews with young children, ages 6-17, from Canada and the US. Their parents are in either the regular military or members of the Reserves and National Guard who have been deployed. The kids are honest about the negatives and positives of being a military kid. Kids in similar circumstances, but who have no one to talk to about it, will find this book refreshing.