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A review by cmbohn
Revolution by Deborah Wiles
5.0
You say you want a revolution, well you know
We all want to change the world.
Title: Revolution (The Sixties Trilogy, #2)
Author: Deborah Wiles
Challenge: Women's History Month, Read Diverse Books
Setting: Mississippi, 1964 - Freedom Summer
Themes: Civil Rights, racial equality, social change, blended families, coming of age
It's the year when everything changes for three young kids, Sunny, Gillette, and Raymond. It's a year of revolution, of violence, of triumph, of fear and of hope.
Sunny can't wait for summer to begin. Swimming at the pool with her friends, going to the movies, listening to The Beatles, visiting her grandma, and going to see A Hard Day's Night. It's going to be the best summer of her life.
Until a group of "invaders" come to town and suddenly, her perfect summer becomes something else. People Sunny has known her whole life start acting in new and unpredictable ways. Tempers flare. And the colored folks at the edge of town start showing up in places they've never been.
Gillette has a new family, a new father, and a new sister who he just can't figure out. She doesn't have any idea how good she's had it. Meanwhile, he just want wants to play baseball.
Raymond lives in the colored part of town. His parents work at one of the cotton farms, and he helps out by picking cotton in the summer. Now a group of Northerners have come to town and are trying to get everyone riled up. His parents are worried about it, but Raymond figures it's time for a change. He might be too young to register to vote, but he's sure like to go to that nice air conditioned movie theater.
I moved around a lot as a kid, mostly living in the Midwest, but also in the South. Never in Mississippi. And as a white woman, I've directly experienced racism. But I've grown up with it around me, in my schools, in my communities, even in my home. My parents were not overtly racist, but they weren't perfect either. But I've definitely never experienced anything like this.
I loved this book. Her previous book, Countdown, introduced me to the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's the same style, combining news stories, photography, and storytelling. Don't be intimidated by the size of these books. The extra content makes them look bigger than they really are, and both books are pretty fast reads. I would definitely recommend this for kids junior high age and up. I'm anxious to read the next one, which I think will be about the Vietnam War.
We all want to change the world.
Title: Revolution (The Sixties Trilogy, #2)
Author: Deborah Wiles
Challenge: Women's History Month, Read Diverse Books
Setting: Mississippi, 1964 - Freedom Summer
Themes: Civil Rights, racial equality, social change, blended families, coming of age
It's the year when everything changes for three young kids, Sunny, Gillette, and Raymond. It's a year of revolution, of violence, of triumph, of fear and of hope.
Sunny can't wait for summer to begin. Swimming at the pool with her friends, going to the movies, listening to The Beatles, visiting her grandma, and going to see A Hard Day's Night. It's going to be the best summer of her life.
Until a group of "invaders" come to town and suddenly, her perfect summer becomes something else. People Sunny has known her whole life start acting in new and unpredictable ways. Tempers flare. And the colored folks at the edge of town start showing up in places they've never been.
Gillette has a new family, a new father, and a new sister who he just can't figure out. She doesn't have any idea how good she's had it. Meanwhile, he just want wants to play baseball.
Raymond lives in the colored part of town. His parents work at one of the cotton farms, and he helps out by picking cotton in the summer. Now a group of Northerners have come to town and are trying to get everyone riled up. His parents are worried about it, but Raymond figures it's time for a change. He might be too young to register to vote, but he's sure like to go to that nice air conditioned movie theater.
I moved around a lot as a kid, mostly living in the Midwest, but also in the South. Never in Mississippi. And as a white woman, I've directly experienced racism. But I've grown up with it around me, in my schools, in my communities, even in my home. My parents were not overtly racist, but they weren't perfect either. But I've definitely never experienced anything like this.
I loved this book. Her previous book, Countdown, introduced me to the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's the same style, combining news stories, photography, and storytelling. Don't be intimidated by the size of these books. The extra content makes them look bigger than they really are, and both books are pretty fast reads. I would definitely recommend this for kids junior high age and up. I'm anxious to read the next one, which I think will be about the Vietnam War.