Freedom Summer (Paperback)
Description
John Henry swims better than anyone I know.
He crawls like a catfish,
blows bubbles like a swamp monster,
but he doesn't swim in the town pool with me.
He's not allowed.
Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim. But there's one important way they're different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn't allowed to do everything his best friend is. Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there...only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people's hearts.
About the Author
Jerome Lagarrigue was born and grew up in Paris, France, in a family of artists. Mr. Lagarrigue is the illustrator of one previous picture book, My Man Blue, by Nikki Grimes, and his work has also appeared in the New Yorker and on the cover of the New York Times Book Review. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, he currently teaches drawing and painting at Parsons School of Design and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Praise for Freedom Summer…
Kirkus Reviews, starred review Teachers and parents could use this book as a quiet but powerful introduction to the prejudice experienced by many Americans.
Library Talk, starred review An excellent book...History will come alive for present-day students.