Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #531725 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780807530283
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4–A 1956 summer visit to their grandmother's home exposes two African-American girls to segregation and prejudice unlike anything they have experienced in the North. As they travel south by bus, their mother explains that the best seats are at the back. At a rest stop, most travelers head for the lunch counter, but Mama reminds her daughters that she has packed them a delicious lunch. When they arrive at their destination, six-year-old Sarah Marie notices the two separate waiting rooms and wonders why her grandmother is waiting in the one without seats. The gentle tone of Birtha's writing reflects the quiet dignity with which the adults in Sarah Marie's family meet the indignities of Jim Crow laws. When they return the following summer, the Supreme Court has desegregated the schools, buses, and public places. The strong, sensitive writing is enhanced by beautiful watercolor paintings filled with chips of light. This story will generate discussions on a range of topics including racial segregation, bullying, and self-respect.–Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
K-Gr. 3. Birtha contributes another picture-book remembrance of the days when African Americans were forced to sit at the back of the bus, this one distinguished by superb watercolor artwork that makes segregation personal. Every summer Mama, Sister, and Sarah Marie take the bus from their home in the North to the South to see Grandmama. This year, 1956, will be different; when Sarah Marie's aunt teaches her to read, the child discovers the consequences of the signs that say "Whites only" and "Colored People," and learns the import of civil rights. The straightforward text and arresting watercolor illustrations (the evocative cover says it all, showing the determination on Grandmama's face) bring home the fierce pride, the dignity, and the emotional impact of the times: "Grandmama's pride" was "too tall to fit in the back of the bus." Told in Sarah Marie's voice, this slice of dramatic history will touch both heart and mind. An author's note provides historical context. Julie Cummins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

complex structure delivers a great read
I loved this book and have read it to children with very good effect. What most impressed me was the tight, circling structure. It could have ended about half way through and been a good book. But the sisters, after visitng their grandmama in the south and experiencing Jim Crow segregation, go back north. The older sister learns to read, starts to figure things out, and then they come south again. The older sister sees the wisdom of her elders' response to segregation and joins them to protect her younger sister. They revisit the same places--the segregated fountain, bathroom, the lunchcounter--but now with this new insight. I love when children's books have that parallel structure. The art work is great, the prose poetic, the story and characters with great univeral appeal.

Grandmama's Pride
A little girl and her family go South to visit her grandma. When she gets there, things are not like at home. Black people and white people are treated differently. She sees "Colored" and "White Only" signs. She didn't like it. Things change when she went to visit her grandma again the next summer. Everyone could use the same bathroom, water fountain and waiting room.

I liked it because it taught me more about black and white people and the way things used to be.

Reviewed by: Jada Monet, 7-years old