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burkescarbrough 's review for:
March: Book Three
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
(This is an example of the book review format I require in EDSE 4215.)
Congressman John Lewis has teamed up with two graphic novelists to tell the story of his fight for civil rights in the 1960s. (This is the third book in that trilogy, but it reads just fine on its own.) Book Three begins in 1963, as John Lewis is the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and focused on one key civil rights goal: getting more black Southerners registered to vote. We follow along as the movement confronts every conceivable challenge: violence, Jim Crow bureaucracy, slippery politicians, distorted media coverage, and disagreement within the movement about what to do. For those of us who think about our history as steady forward progress, this book brings to life the astounding struggle, setbacks, and close calls behind that progress—and the beating hearts behind the headlines and history books.
There's not yet a Lexile score for Book Three, but Book Two comes in at 850L. The Common Core standards push for 4th or 5th graders to read at this level, and I suspect that many of them could—particularly with the support that the lovely visuals provide. On the other hand, readers would need to be able to handle the violent content and bring enough background knowledge about the civil rights movement to jump into the story of a social movement in progress; a lot of names and historical events get mentioned along the way, and even if a reader doesn't need to catch every reference, prior knowledge clearly matters in a historical novel. (Obviously, if the reading task were connected to a broader unit on the time period, students would have the support of the unit and the classroom community as they make sense of the text.) Also, as "easy" as graphic novels can seem to many readers, this one beautifully puts the images to work juxtaposing, deepening, and sometimes complicating what the words are saying. There's a lot to notice about how the design of each panel impacts meaning, and readers who aren't used to decoding the visual elements in graphic novels might find this MORE challenging than a traditional prose novel.
I read the book in one sitting—it's that readable and captivating—though my quick read hardly did justice to all of the smart and effective design moves in this text. It's great when a book can be a page-turner as an independent read and also a great text for slower analysis (of history/story and design/craft). The book takes things you might already know about—assassinations, the Selma march, the significance of Obama's election to those who fought for civil rights—and sets you up to see and FEEL these moments. For any reader who doesn't know much about the struggle for civil rights, for any reader who feels distant from that "back there and back then" story, or for any reader who thinks they've heard enough about that part of our history...I recommend this book.
Congressman John Lewis has teamed up with two graphic novelists to tell the story of his fight for civil rights in the 1960s. (This is the third book in that trilogy, but it reads just fine on its own.) Book Three begins in 1963, as John Lewis is the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and focused on one key civil rights goal: getting more black Southerners registered to vote. We follow along as the movement confronts every conceivable challenge: violence, Jim Crow bureaucracy, slippery politicians, distorted media coverage, and disagreement within the movement about what to do. For those of us who think about our history as steady forward progress, this book brings to life the astounding struggle, setbacks, and close calls behind that progress—and the beating hearts behind the headlines and history books.
There's not yet a Lexile score for Book Three, but Book Two comes in at 850L. The Common Core standards push for 4th or 5th graders to read at this level, and I suspect that many of them could—particularly with the support that the lovely visuals provide. On the other hand, readers would need to be able to handle the violent content and bring enough background knowledge about the civil rights movement to jump into the story of a social movement in progress; a lot of names and historical events get mentioned along the way, and even if a reader doesn't need to catch every reference, prior knowledge clearly matters in a historical novel. (Obviously, if the reading task were connected to a broader unit on the time period, students would have the support of the unit and the classroom community as they make sense of the text.) Also, as "easy" as graphic novels can seem to many readers, this one beautifully puts the images to work juxtaposing, deepening, and sometimes complicating what the words are saying. There's a lot to notice about how the design of each panel impacts meaning, and readers who aren't used to decoding the visual elements in graphic novels might find this MORE challenging than a traditional prose novel.
I read the book in one sitting—it's that readable and captivating—though my quick read hardly did justice to all of the smart and effective design moves in this text. It's great when a book can be a page-turner as an independent read and also a great text for slower analysis (of history/story and design/craft). The book takes things you might already know about—assassinations, the Selma march, the significance of Obama's election to those who fought for civil rights—and sets you up to see and FEEL these moments. For any reader who doesn't know much about the struggle for civil rights, for any reader who feels distant from that "back there and back then" story, or for any reader who thinks they've heard enough about that part of our history...I recommend this book.