* Boycott Blues  How Rosa Parks inspired a nation  Andrea Davis Pinkney  illustrations: Brian Pinkney

This is the life story about Rosa Parks with incredible illustrations with soft colors and soft brush strokes.  The story is told as if Parks is telling it, and it is very reassuring. 


This is an amazing story of a young woman from montgomery who refused to get up and give her seat to a white man, even when Jim Crow and the bus driver demanded it of her.  She was arrested for this offense and a good friend bailed her out.  And then all of the black people in town boycotted riding the buses in town, in protest for the way Ms. Parks was treated.  Then it discusses Martin Luther King jr.'s speech and how it inspired Parks and all of her people.  It goes on to talk about boycotting and the fight for equality and human rights.  They boycotted for hundreds of days and did not let anything sway the, and in December of 1956 there finally was progress and improvement made.  It is such an inspirational story.  The story itself is an easy read and would be great for any age, but the simplicity of the story would be great for early elementary 1st or 2nd grade.  This will introduce black history and how the world was when it was ignorant and how different and accepting it is today.