Coretta Scott
A spare, poetic text introduces the Civil Rights Movement through a few experiences in the life of Coretta Scott (King). The narrative opens with young Coretta walking through the dark five miles to a colored school. When a school bus full of white children passes by, Coretta and her siblings are covered in dust, “but / songs and birds of all colors / and rich soil / where slaves fought freedom / steadied them / in the face of danger.” With a turn of the page Coretta has grown to a young woman certain “that the good Lord intended freedom / for the Negro.” She meets and marries Martin Luther King Jr. and joins the organized struggle of African Americans across the south and across the country for Civil Rights, “singin’, always singin’.” Artist Kadir Nelson’s stirring pictures feature almost life-size faces rich with emotions, as well iconographic scenes of the Civil Rights Movement in a book that provides most of its biographical details in a one-page endnote. CCBC Categories: Biography and Autobiography ©2009 Cooperative Children's Book Center
Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 6-9
Age Range:
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Formats:
Biography, Autobiography and Memoir
Picture book
Subjects:
20th Century
Activism and Resistance
African Americans
Biography
Civil Rights
History (Nonfiction)
Music and Musicians
U.S. History
Diversity subject:
Black/African
Publishers:
Amistad, HarperCollins, Katherine Tegen Books
Publish Year: 2009
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9780061253645
CCBC Location: Non-Fiction, 920 King