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| Image Retrieved from: Freedom School, Yes! - Wikipedia |
Summary:
Freedom School, Yes! is based on the 1964 Freedom School Summer Project. The author, Amy Littlesugar, wrote the story based on her own experiences as a ten-year-old girl during the summer of 1964 and interviewed multiple women who were Freedom School teachers. The story follows Jolie, a young girl, and her family as they take in Annie, the 19-year-old Freedom School teacher who has come to their community in Chicken Creek, and the struggles they experience trying to make school happen. Jolie is confused and upset as bricks are thrown through her window and their church/school building is burned down. The community bands together to rebuild the school, meanwhile Annie teaches whoever wants to come to school under a hickory tree. It's a beautiful story of resilience and bravery as the students (both children and an elderly woman) learn black history. Jolie is inspired by historical figures such as Harriet Tubman and Benjamin Banneker, so she is able to show bravery herself!
My Impressions and How I Would Use this Book:
This is a wonderful story to teach students about education inequality in a developmentally appropriate way. The professional review (see below) recommends this book for ages 5-9, but I would use it in instruction all the way through 6th grade. This book could be used for instruction about the Civil Rights movement and/or be an access point for teaching Black history. I would also integrate writing standards; students could select one historical figure mentioned in the story and conduct a research project, or students could, as Littlesugar did, interview people who were alive during the Civil Rights movement and write their own stories. The illustrations are also absolutely stunning, making the story engaging even for students who do not like to read.
Professional Review:
The team that created Tree of Hope (1999) returns to present a story of the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project. Jolie is frightened by the presence of Annie, the white Freedom Rider her mother has volunteered to host over the summer, and she is reluctant to attend the Freedom School Annie will teach. But when a brick crashes through her window, and the church that is to hold the school burns down, Jolie realizes that daring to learn about her heritage in the face of hate is the best way to fight back. Littlesugar's prose effectively captures the pervasive fear felt by the African-American community and evokes the almost electric excitement of learning about a proud history for the first time. "Annie spoke of a free black man from long ago. 'Benjamin Banneker was his name,' she said. 'He was a mathematician, a farmer, but more than anything else, he loved the stars.' " Cooper's muted, oil-wash illustrations are equally expressive when presenting a close-up of a stern Uncle Shad, admonishing Jolie not to let "bein' scared" get in her way, as when depicting a long view of Annie teaching under an old hickory tree, the children at her feet and 70-year-old Miss Rosetta in her chair. Some illustrations are not so successful (as when Annie appears to be almost shouting a lesson about Harriet Tubman at Jolie), but this slight unevenness does not mar the effect of the whole. A loving, touching, and inspiring presentation of an often-overlooked chapter of the civil-rights saga. Includes author's note and bibliography. (Picture book. 5-9)
Audience: Children's
ISBN: 0-399-23006-8
Author: Littlesugar, Amy
Retrieved from: FREEDOM SCHOOL, YES! (2000). Kirkus Reviews, (22) https://login.ezproxy.jbu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/freedom-school-yes/docview/917076632/se-2
APA Citation:
Littlesugar, A. (2001). Freedom School, yes! Philomel Books.
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