Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer

Written by: Deborah Wiles
Illustrated by: Jerome Lagarrigue
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grades: K-5
Awards: Coretta Scott King Award for Illustrators 

The author left a note in the beginning of the book for the reader to know about the background and setting of this story. It is set in the summer, where the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, allowing all people entitled to have full and equal enjoyment, regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin. 

This story is revolved around Joe, a young white boy, and John Henry, a young black boy.  John Henry's mother, Annie Mae, works for Joe's family everyday. During the summer, John Henry joins his mother to visit Joe. The two of them, Joe and John Henry, are best friends and spend a lot of time together. They play marbles in the dirt, swim in the creek, and enjoy ice pops together, but John Henry is not allowed in the general store due to the color of his skin. The boys went back to Joe's house and had dinner that Annie Mae made. Joe's parents announced that the town pool is open for everyone of color, not just whites because of the new Civil Rights Act. The boys get excited about finally swimming in the pool together. The next morning, they went to the pool but they found it empty of water and saw workers fill it up with tar, and one of the workers was John Henry's older brother. After the boys have watched the workers fill up the pool all morning, John Henry expressed to Joe that he wanted to swim in that pool and not a creek, because he wanted to everything that Joe was able to do because he was white. Joe finally realized that he wants John Henry to experience everything he has. They went to the general store and John Henry said he had his own money to spend on ice pops, and so they had their arms around each other and walked in together.

I really enjoyed reading this book and would want to have this in my classroom library. This book would be good for all grades from Kindergarten to fifth grade. I would read aloud this book during a Civil Rights unit for the students to have an understanding what people felt during this time in 1964.