This is the Dream

Ransome (Satchel Paige) creates a striking juxtaposition of closely focused paintings and collage borders incorporating powerful historical photographs. These images will make a strong impression on readers of this expository chronicle of events preceding, during and following the civil rights movement, as Ransome's artwork makes large ideas comprehensible through visual details. The singsong rhythm and "House-that-Jack-Built" meter creates a chilling contrast to what's going on between the lines: "These are the buses—a dime buys a ride,/ but the people are sorted by color inside." Ransome shows the demarcation of the bus's white and black sections, and in a border across the top creates a collage of stirring portraits. Text and artwork similarly depict segrgated lunch counters, libraries and schools. One of the most powerful spreads portrays three black children stepping into a newly integrated school ("These are the students who step through the doors/ where people of color have not walked before"), Confederate flags flying, while a photocollage on the top edge shows the fractured images of angry white bystanders, effectively emulating a mob mentality. Concluding spreads demonstrate the contrast today, with images of a multiracial array of people waiting to use the same drinking fountain and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in one voice at school. This will provide a solid springboard for adult-child discussions, especially since younger readers might need help deciphering some of the poetic narrative's references. All ages.
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Kindergarten-Grade 6–A chronicle of the Civil Rights movement presented through lyrical verses and distinguished illustrations. Ransome juxtaposes collaged archival photographs and newspaper clippings with his paintings (he credits Romare Bearden and Robert Rauschenberg as influences). The book opens with an image of two very stark and separate drinking fountains with identifying signs spanning the pages (These are the fountains/that stand in the square,/and the black-and-white signs/say who will drink where). Segregated buses, lunch counters, libraries, and schools are followed by a series of paintings of the civil rights heroes who partook in nonviolent protests and boycotts. Each succinct and evocative verse is accompanied by a double-page image. At the book's center are portraits of Ella Baker, Walter White, Thurgood Marshall, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., placed on a black-and-white collage of the masses marching. The corresponding verse reads: These are the leaders whose powerful voices/lift up the marchers demanding new choices.… A turn of the page presents paintings of people from diverse racial backgrounds interacting on buses, in restaurants, and in parks. Like Doreen Rappaport's Martin's Big Words (Hyperion, 2001), this book honors our humanity while leading readers through a painful history. Notes at the end by the authors and the illustrator suggest that as a nation we have seen the power of nonviolent change, but the journey is not over. A valuable addition to children's literature.–Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.