About the Author

William Miller is the award-winning author of numerous picture books, including Richard Wright and the Library Card, which was named a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree, a Reading Rainbow selection, and Night Golf, winner of the Parent's Choice Award. John Ward has illustrated many acclaimed children's books, including Kente Colors, The Freedom Riddle and Poppa's New Pants, winner of the Parents' Choice Award.

Reviews

"Miller reimagines the story of Rosa Parks's historic refusal to give up her bus seat as it might have happened to Sara, a young girl with an intuitive grasp of right and wrong. What makes this book so effective are two things: First, Miller keeps the story intimate, without portentous forebodings of history in the making; second, Ward's terrific realistic illustrations make the story utterly accessible. The approach is low-key, but readers will feel the winds of history rustle in these pages." -- Kirkus Reviews "Miller offers a streamlined, fictional account of the Montgomery, Ala., bus strike -- inspired by Rosa Parks's pivotal act of courage. . . Wards (Kente Colors) closely focused, acrylic paintings are as straightforward. . . Miller's text. [M]ost inspiring to readers will be Parks's brief introduction, in which she frankly states that she had no intention of making history on that day in 1955." -- Publishers WeeklyUnited Women in Faith Reading Program - United Methodist Women

K-Gr 3-A well-intentioned, fictional attempt to present some information about the issues at play during the 1955-56 bus boycott in Montgomery, AL, and to show the impact that can be made by one person taking a stand for what is right. Sara, an African-American girl, rides the bus each day with her mother. One morning, after her mother has gotten off, the child decides to see what is so special about the front of the bus. When she sits in one of the front seats and refuses to move, the driver calls a policeman, who carries her to the police station, where her mother is called. The next morning the two of them walk instead of taking the bus. Along the way they discover that Sara's picture is in the paper and that black and white people alike hail her as a hero. While this story follows the outline of the incidents that made Rosa Parks justifiably famous, it all happens too easily here. There is no sense of the bravery of Sara's action. When the policeman first talks to Sara, he is smiling. At the station, the sergeant pats her on the back. She is instantly a hero. It appears that a few days of boycotting is all it took to get the laws changed. The story, in fact, trivializes the entire incident rather than bringing it to life. Even the beautiful paintings portray little more than mild annoyance on the part of some of the onlookers. Rosa Parks's I Am Rosa Parks (Dial, 1997), Eloise Greenfield's Rosa Parks (HarperCollins, 1995), and David A. Adler's A Picture Book of Rosa Parks (Holiday, 1993) are all better choices.-Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City

"Miller reimagines the story of Rosa Parks's historic refusal to give up her bus seat as it might have happened to Sara, a young girl with an intuitive grasp of right and wrong. What makes this book so effective are two things: First, Miller keeps the story intimate, without portentous forebodings of history in the making; second, Ward's terrific realistic illustrations make the story utterly accessible. The approach is low-key, but readers will feel the winds of history rustle in these pages." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Miller offers a streamlined, fictional account of the Montgomery, Ala., bus strike -- inspired by Rosa Parks's pivotal act of courage. . . Wards (Kente Colors) closely focused, acrylic paintings are as straightforward. . . Miller's text. [M]ost inspiring to readers will be Parks's brief introduction, in which she frankly states that she had no intention of making history on that day in 1955." -- Publishers WeeklyReading Program, United Methodist Women