A Tugging String: A Novel About Growing Up During the Civil Rights Era - Hardcover

David T. Greenberg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525479678 ISBN 13: 9780525479673

Publisher: Dutton Childrens Books, 2008

Synopsis

Duvy Greenberg is an ordinary twelve-year-old trying to fit in. He knows that his father, Jack, is a civil rights lawyer, but Duvy lives worlds away from Dorothy Milton, a black woman struggling to become a registered voter in Selma, Alabama. When Dorothy reaches out to Martin Luther King Jr. for help, she sets in motion a series of events that—with Jack Greenberg’s help—will open Duvy’s eyes to the reality of racial inequality and forever change the course of history. Blending facts, speeches, memories, and conjecture, this novel portrays the emotions and events surrounding the Selma-Montgomery Voting Rights March.

About this title

About the Author:

David T. Greenberg is the author of Slugs and many other books for children. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5–8—A fascinating look at the Civil Rights Movement, specifically the campaign to gain the vote for blacks in Selma, AL. The author, son of Jack Greenberg, a civil rights lawyer and director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund during the 1960s, provides a unique perspective on this time, wrapping actual events within a fictional story line. It centers around David's boyhood in Great Neck, NY, as he grows in understanding of the often-dangerous work his father does. Alternating chapters focus on Jack Greenberg's efforts in the South, the courageous individuals with whom he comes into contact (ranging from regular people to leaders such as Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, Jr.), and the threats they all face daily. This book is at once homage of a son to his father and an exploration of a crucial moment in American history. Dad is lovingly portrayed, as is the rest of the Greenberg family. The narrative beautifully melds historical fact with imagined situations and characters (footnotes and a postscript clearly delineate between real and fictionalized events). Although didactic at times, it is clearly written and sincere, and it should prove appealing to those readers who absorb historical fact better through historical fiction.—Carol Jones Collins, Hanover Park High School, East Hanover, NJ
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About this edition

• Publisher: Dutton Childrens Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0525479678
• ISBN 13: 9780525479673
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 167