A Dream Of Freedom (Booklist Editor's Choice. Books for Youth (Awards))
Starred Review. Grade 5-9–Motivated by her naive, youthful acceptance of racial injustice as a white, privileged child in Birmingham, AL, McWhorter directs her compelling retrospective at readers who likewise may not realize that history swirls around them. After a prologue that describes the emergence and impact of segregation in the United States, chapters follow chronologically, highlighting pivotal events, people, successes, and failures of "The Movement." Against the backdrop of the constitutional and moral struggle between the White House and Southern politicians, the author recounts the flamboyant resilience of Birmingham's Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, the battered determination of student leader John Lewis, the nonviolent leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the sacrificial commitment of the Freedom Riders. She also explores J. Edgar Hoover's covert manipulation of the FBI, the power struggle between the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the shift from nonviolence to Black Power and urban race riots, and the national political focus on the Vietnam War. Protests, marches, boycotts, and infamous tragedies are sequenced and analyzed as catalysts that fueled the movement. Collections that already own Ellen Levine'sFreedom's Children(Putnam, 1993) and James Haskins'sFreedom Rides(Hyperion, 1995) will be greatly enhanced by this title. Numerous archival photos add a powerful visual dimension to the text. This engaging, stirring narrative offers a balanced presentation of the heroism and idealism as well as the political turmoil surrounding and within the civil rights movement.–Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NCCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.