Sunday, February 4, 2007


Rosa
By: Nikki Giovanni
Illustrated by: Bryan Collier
Rosa tells the story of Rosa parks. It starts by explaining a normal day for her and then the bus incident. It then goes into the social action that happened after the bus boycott.

I was very disappointed when I first read this story because it seemed to be like every other Rosa Parks book: it doesn't talk about how she was involved in the civil rights movement before she decided not to give up her seat. As I continued reading my opinion changed because of the amount of the story that covers the social action of the era. I think it would be important to introduce this story after already having some background on Rosa Parks. I do not think this can be the only information students are given about Rosa Parks. The illustrations are also very beautiful. The illustrator takes advantage of color and makes every character look different.

In the classroom this can be used as a tool to explore the civil rights era. Students can write about how they would have reacted if placed in her position. It would be even more interesting to use the social action section of the story. Students could resesarch some different events that were part of the civil rights movement. They could compare the ways that people participated in social action during the civil rights movement to social action movements in other countries.

This book touches on all 5 aspects of Social Justice education. I was suprised at how well it went into the social aspect aspect of the civil rights movement. Students can continue to explore the different levels as they review the story.
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