A review by mandarchy
Because Claudette by Tracey Baptiste

hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

If you are teaching about the Civil Rights Movement or just Rosa Parks, you need to add this book to you library. Having read this and Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor changed basketball by Jen Bryant this week, it has become more apparent to me exactly what Tracey Baptiste says at the back of this book, "Movements are made of small individual acts that come together into something bigger. No act of resistance stands alone, and each one matters, no matter how small." It is hard for children to understand history, and I think iconic moments live large in their imagination. Books like this remind them that they can make a difference. Something else I appreciated about this book is that it mentions  more people I have never heard of who made a difference in the Civil Rights Movement: opportunities for more research. If I had more time, I would like to use this book as well as other resources to have my students create a timeline of the bus boycott so that they can better understand how service makes us stronger and how even small events lead to greater change.