This Is the Dream - Softcover

Shore, Diane Z; Alexander, Jessica

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060555211 ISBN 13: 9780060555214

Publisher: Amistad Books for Young Readers, 2009

Synopsis

"With courage they rallied and answered the call . . . dreaming of freedom and justice for all."

The United States of America was founded on the declaration that all men are created equal. But nearly two hundred years after that proclamation, America was still deeply segregated.

Slowly but surely, powerful leaders as well as everyday citizens spoke up for their dreams and beliefs. Soon, a people proud and strong stood up as one for their rights, and a new America came to be.

About this title

About the Author:

Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander have collaborated on several children's books, including This Is the Dream and This Is the Game. One thing they have learned while cowriting stories is that when people work together, great things can happen. Both authors live with their families in metro Atlanta, Georgia.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 6–A chronicle of the Civil Rights movement presented through lyrical verses and distinguished illustrations. Ransome juxtaposes collaged archival photographs and newspaper clippings with his paintings (he credits Romare Bearden and Robert Rauschenberg as influences). The book opens with an image of two very stark and separate drinking fountains with identifying signs spanning the pages (These are the fountains/that stand in the square,/and the black-and-white signs/say who will drink where). Segregated buses, lunch counters, libraries, and schools are followed by a series of paintings of the civil rights heroes who partook in nonviolent protests and boycotts. Each succinct and evocative verse is accompanied by a double-page image. At the book's center are portraits of Ella Baker, Walter White, Thurgood Marshall, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., placed on a black-and-white collage of the masses marching. The corresponding verse reads: These are the leaders whose powerful voices/lift up the marchers demanding new choices.... A turn of the page presents paintings of people from diverse racial backgrounds interacting on buses, in restaurants, and in parks. Like Doreen Rappaport's Martin's Big Words (Hyperion, 2001), this book honors our humanity while leading readers through a painful history. Notes at the end by the authors and the illustrator suggest that as a nation we have seen the power of nonviolent change, but the journey is not over. A valuable addition to children's literature.–Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Amistad Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0060555211
• ISBN 13: 9780060555214
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Ransome James