The Bus Ride - Softcover

William Miller

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1584300264 ISBN 13: 9781584300267

Publisher: Lee & Low Books, 2013

Synopsis

A black child protests an unjust law in this story loosely based on Rosa Parks' historic decision not to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Reprint.

About this title

About the Author:

William Miller is the award-winning author of numerous books for children for LEE & LOW (see full list to the right). Mr. Miller lives in York, Pennsylvania, where he teaches African American literature and creative writing at York College.

John Ward has illustrated many acclaimed children's books, including Kente Colors, The Freedom Riddle, and Poppa's New Pants, winner of the Parents' Choice Award. He lives with his wife in Freeport, NY

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3-A well-intentioned, fictional attempt to present some information about the issues at play during the 1955-56 bus boycott in Montgomery, AL, and to show the impact that can be made by one person taking a stand for what is right. Sara, an African-American girl, rides the bus each day with her mother. One morning, after her mother has gotten off, the child decides to see what is so special about the front of the bus. When she sits in one of the front seats and refuses to move, the driver calls a policeman, who carries her to the police station, where her mother is called. The next morning the two of them walk instead of taking the bus. Along the way they discover that Sara's picture is in the paper and that black and white people alike hail her as a hero. While this story follows the outline of the incidents that made Rosa Parks justifiably famous, it all happens too easily here. There is no sense of the bravery of Sara's action. When the policeman first talks to Sara, he is smiling. At the station, the sergeant pats her on the back. She is instantly a hero. It appears that a few days of boycotting is all it took to get the laws changed. The story, in fact, trivializes the entire incident rather than bringing it to life. Even the beautiful paintings portray little more than mild annoyance on the part of some of the onlookers. Rosa Parks's I Am Rosa Parks (Dial, 1997), Eloise Greenfield's Rosa Parks (HarperCollins, 1995), and David A. Adler's A Picture Book of Rosa Parks (Holiday, 1993) are all better choices.
Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lee & Low Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1584300264
• ISBN 13: 9781584300267
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: John Ward