A review by amandabock
The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch by Chris Barton

4.0

This is the story of a man who went from being a slave to being a U.S. Congressman in just 10 years. There are very few books about the Reconstruction era for young people, especially when you compare it to the amazing wealth of books about slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. So, this book fills a very important void. There is a lot to like about it- the straightforward language and lighthearted illustrations. I wish that the additional information given in the afterward was incorporated into the text. Sometimes the individual story of John Roy is too narrow and I want there to be more context. I think this book will raise a lot of questions for kids, and I wish I had more resources to give them to learn more.