Product Description

Based on the true story of the Rosenwald schools built in the rural African-American South in the 1920s, writer and poet Carol Boston Weatherford tells the lyrical story of third grader Ovella as her family and community help each other build a new, and much-prayed for, school. Inspired by Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, the son of an immigrant and the president of Sears, Roebuck and Co., donated millions of dollars to build schools for African-American children in the rural South. The local African-American community were required to raise matching funds, secure [cont'd]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #954205 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 2-5–Set in the rural South in the early 1920s, this simple, respectful story examines one community's efforts to build a new school for African-American children with seed money provided by the Julius Rosenwald Fund. Each spread features a prose poem told in the voice of a student. Readers learn about the difficult decision to accept the challenge–which the Sears Roebuck executive extended to more than 5000 communities–and then to build a decent schoolhouse for the children of sharecroppers and other poor families. Land, lumber, and labor were all donated or purchased cheap; cast-off books and furnishings from more affluent communities appeared; and within a year, the students who used to study in a drafty shack walked into the first building they could truly call their own. Christie's gouache and colored-pencil illustrations have the variegated look and stylized layout of collage art–a good complement to the child's rough-around-the-edges narration. An afterword explains Rosenwald's impact on thousands of poor black communities. An uplifting and inspiring story about the buildings that are all too frequently taken for granted.–Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In the early 1920s, Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Roebuck, was inspired by Booker T. Washington to give millions to build schools for African American children in the rural South, on condition that the local community raised money too. This picture book tells the story from the viewpoint of Ovella, 10, part of a sharecropper family, who attends a rough one-room schoolhouse when she is not picking cotton ("Instead of learning long division / I'll be working in the fields"). Weatherford's short lines in clear free verse and Christie's exuberant gouache and colored-pencil illustrations show Ovella as part of a vibrant family and community, hard at work, passing the plate in church, and, finally, thrilled to be welcoming the teacher to the exciting new school ("no more eight grades in one room"). The story ends with the child's dream: "One day, I'll be a teacher." Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

An eye-opener regarding an Afro-American community in the South from 1921-22.

What a wonderful children's book. It tells a good story and is educational at the same time. While reading the text it was a joy to look at the illustrations to get some perspective as to what the book was about. The pictures in the book were well done and appropriate. There are 14 scenes (double-page pictures) included.

The book is set in the rural South in 1921 and 1922. The narrator of the book is a young black girl who has never had a good school to go to. The book explains how she got her school within a year's time due primarily to the financial contribution of Julius Rosenwald who had made millions as President of Sears Roebuck and Company.

My favorite part of the book was the Author's Note at the end of the book. That's where the history behind the book is explained. And it is from that blurb that a parent reading the book to their child or children will probably get inspiration when fully explaining the book to their listeners.

I would have liked the book better if its message had been slightly different. I found there to be too much emphasis on the value of the school instead of the value of an education. Wise people are constant learners. Some have gone to school, and others have been self-taught. While it is true that most wise people have at least some school in their past, it's children who want to learn and study for themselves who really benefit from an education. 5 stars!

Well-written and beautifully illustrated
I highly recommend this book for children and adults alike. (I am even buying one for my sister, a Ph.D. student in History with a focus on the education of blacks in the South.) This book is a great historical glimpse into an era from which we are not too far removed from. Accesible to kids and informative to adults, this is a definite must read.

An authentic Jewish hero
Julius Rosenwald is an authentic Jewish hero yet his name is largely unknown. The longtime head of Sears, Roebuck and Company was one of America's leading philanthropists in the early decades of the twentieth century. A strong supporter of Jewish charities and organizations (a founder and long-time vice-president of the American Jewish Committee), he is especially remembered as a champion for African Americans at a time when Jim Crow laws prevailed. He and the Rosenwald Fund he established are credited with building and staffing over 5,000 schools for African American children in the rural South. In effect, he created a quasi public school system for rural black children who would otherwise not have received a decent education. To insure pride of community ownership, Rosenwald insisted that each community raise matching funds and participate in the building and upkeep of the school.
This book contains evocative free-verse first-person vignettes told by a young girl protagonist who describes her feelings and observations as her community embraces the building of a Rosenwald school. The lively illustrations provide an upbeat visual accompaniment to the text.
This book has no direct Jewish content but is a loving introduction to Rosenwald's vision of Tikkun Olam.
For ages 4-8.
Reviewed by Norman H. Finkelstein