Freedom Summer
The winner of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award, this work introduces a white boy living in the South of 1964, who recounts his first experience of racial prejudice--and his friendship with a black boy that defied it.
John Henry swims better than anyone I know. He crawls like a catfish, blows bubbles like a swamp monster, but he doesn't swim in the town pool with me. He's not allowed. Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim.
But there's one important way they're different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn't allowed to do everything his best friend is. Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there . . . only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people's hearts.
This stirring account of the "Freedom Summer" that followed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 powerfully and poignantly captures two boys' experience with racism and their friendship that defies it.
Full color.
Target age group 6-8
John Henry swims better than anyone I know. He crawls like a catfish, blows bubbles like a swamp monster, but he doesn't swim in the town pool with me. He's not allowed. Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim.
But there's one important way they're different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn't allowed to do everything his best friend is. Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there . . . only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people's hearts.
This stirring account of the "Freedom Summer" that followed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 powerfully and poignantly captures two boys' experience with racism and their friendship that defies it.
Full color.
Target age group 6-8
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CategoryJuvenile Fiction
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Age Group6 to 8 yrs
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Grade LevelK-2
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LanguageEnglish
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BindingPaperback
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Theme 1Social, Personal & Family Topics
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Theme 2History
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Detailed (BISAC) Subject/ThemeFriendship
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AwardsCoretta Scott King Award - Winner, Ezra Jack Keats Book Award
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AuthorWiles, Deborah
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Lexile Level600 AD
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AR Level3.2
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DeweyE
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PublisherSimon & Schuster
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Publication Date1/1/2005
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Pages32
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Dimensions0.18 H x 9.02 L x 9.74 W
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Case Qty100
