Rosa by Nikki Giovanni

Rosa. Written by Nikki Giovanni. Illustrated by Bryan Collier. 2005. ISBN: 0-8050-7106-7. Caldecott honor book. Children's nonfiction picture book. African American culture. Ages 6+.

Rosa is the story of Rosa Parks and her historic day on the bus in Alabama. It tells some of Rosa's background life, and some about the historical happenings in the Southern United States during the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. It tells of how Rosa sat on the bus, refusing to give up her seat on the basis of the color of her skin. It tells of how she waited for the police to show and the taunts she received during her sit in. It tells of how when the black community learned of her arrest, they supported her by boycotting the buses and taxi's. This boycott of the buses and taxi's lasted for over a year until the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that segregation on buses was illegal. The nonviolent actions of Rosa Parks and her supporters were so powerful that they were able to change the law.

The illustrations in this book are powerful and interesting. They have an abstract quality, which the illustrator did purposely by combining watercolor and collage. The pictures are given texture and come alive through the collage work. They also have a warm feeling to them because of the yellowish overtone used. The illustrators note explains why. "In researching this story, I made a trip to Montgomery and Selma. When I arrived in Alabama, the first thing I noticed was the heat. That is why my paintings for this book have a yellow, sometimes dark, hue. I wanted the reader to feel in that head a foreshadowing, and uneasy quiet. Even though the story of Rosa Parks and the bus boycott began in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, it did not end there. Many future marcher, in Selma and elsewhere throughout the country over the next decade, were inspired by the courage of Mrs. Rosa Parks. In my paintings, Mrs. Parks loos as if light is emanating from her. To me, she is like a radiant chandelier, and elegant light that illuminates all our many pathways. "

This book is very informational and should be read at the beginning of Black History Units. It is inspiring to know that many of the equalities that we know as normal today, were not normal just a short while ago. If not for people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., we wouldn't be where we are now.