December 12, 2016
Levinson returns to the subject of We’ve Got a Job as she recounts, for a younger audience, the story of Audrey Faye Hendricks and her role in the 1963 Children’s March in Birmingham, Ala. Moving briskly through events, Levinson explains how the young Hendricks was eager to stand up to segregation, marching alongside thousands of fellow students, who were subsequently arrested. Newton’s bright, digitally assembled collages adeptly highlight the danger of the situation—grim cells, barbed-wire fences, children blasted with fire hoses—while emphasizing the power of the marchers’ collective efforts to push back against injustice. Ages 5–10. Author’s agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words.
November 1, 2016
Readers can decide whether, were they in Audrey's shoes, they would make the same dangerous decision.Nine-year-old Audrey and her mother are happily preparing a meal for their special guest, whom they call Mike--otherwise known as Martin Luther King Jr. It is this environment that helps her decide to march in Birmingham in May 1963 and get arrested--all to fight segregation peacefully. The adults are too fearful to march, so Audrey proudly volunteers to join other children and go to "j-a-a-il!" Her parents and her grandparents support her decision, and so, to the sounds of civil rights-era music, she is arrested. The time behind bars is unpleasant, but the cells soon fill up. Audrey comes home after seven days to her favorite food: "hot rolls, baptized in butter." Eating at an integrated lunch counter follows. Levinson, who wrote for older readers in We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March (2012), here carefully tailors her text to a level suitable for a younger audience. Newton's digital illustrations burst with color against a white background. Audrey smiles and looks fearful, as appropriate. A double-page spread of her in a jail cell, all in gray, is especially effective. A vivid reminder that it took a community to fight segregation and the community responded. (author's note, timeline, recipe, sources) (Informational picture book. 7-10)
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November 1, 2016
K-Gr 4-Levinson's We've Got a Job followed nine-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks and three other youths who were among the thousands of children and teens who marched for freedom in Birmingham, AL, in 1963. Here, she pulls from that material, including personal interviews, to highlight Hendricks's story for younger audiences, telling it from her subject's perspective. The author introduces the Hendricks family's frequent dinner guests, Mike, Fred, and Jim-the ministers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Shuttlesworth, and James Bevel, respectively. She also describes the indignities of African American life in Alabama at the time. When Mike's campaign to protest segregation and "fill the jails" doesn't work, young Audrey eagerly volunteers for Jim's new idea-getting children to march. Digital collage illustrations show a young, pigtailed Audrey and her family mostly smiling and happy leading up to the march-she even brings a new board game to pass the time. Pictures and words combine to depict the discomfort of Hendricks's actual experience: loneliness, unpalatable food, angry white interrogators, and even solitary confinement. Like young Audrey, readers will be relieved when her weeklong sentence is up and she goes home to "hot rolls, baptized in butter," and the promise of a brighter future. VERDICT Simplified and sweetened, but still a significant portrayal of Audrey Faye Hendricks and the Children's March. For collections in need of history materials for the younger set.-Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 1, 2017
Levinson tells the true story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, the youngest participant in the 1963 Birmingham Children's March. Growing up in Alabama, nine-year-old Audrey knows all about segregation as a way of life. And listening to the grownups talk at church, she hears hateful stories that make her squirm. When the visiting preacherMartin Luther King Jr., known to Audrey's family as Mike announces his plan for the congregation to fight segregation by marching and getting arrested, the adults demur. Then the idea for a Children's March is floated, and Audrey is eager to join in: She was going to break a law and go to jail to help make things right. Levinson goes on to describe Audrey's week in jail, with its loneliness, bad food, boredom, and intimidationit was harder than she'd thought and her jubilation when she realizes that the Children's March has been a success. The well-paced text captures a child's voice and presents time and place realistically. Brightly colored digital collages clearly depict both the hopeful spirit and the rawer emotions of one community involved in the civil rights struggle; a double-page spread of Audrey curled up on a bare mattress in her jail cell is particularly effective. A timeline, sources, and recipe for hot rolls baptized in butter (Audrey's favorite food) are included; an author's note provides additional background. claudette s. mclinn
(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)