She had not sought this moment but she was ready for it. When the policeman bent down to ask "Auntie, are you going to move?" all the strength of all the people through all those many years joined in her. She said, "No."

An inspiring account of an event that shaped American history

Fifty years after her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus, Mrs. Rosa Parks is still one of the most important figures in the American civil rights movement. This picture- book tribute to Mrs. Parks is a celebration of her courageous action and the events that followed.



Award-winning poet, writer, and activist Nikki Giovanni's evocative text combines with Bryan Collier's striking cut-paper images to retell the story of this historic event from a wholly unique and original perspective.

Rosa is a 2006 Caldecott Honor Book and the winner of the 2006 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award.

Nikki Giovanni has written many books of poetry for children and adults. She is the author of Rosa, a Caldecott Honor book, Lincoln and Douglass, The Genie in the Jar, and Ego-tripping and Other Poems for Young People. Giovanni calls herself, "a Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English."  She was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Lincoln Heights, an all-black suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. She studied at Fisk University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. She published her first book of poetry, Black Feeling Black Talk, in 1968, and since then has become one of America’s most widely read poets. Oprah Winfrey named her as one of her twenty-five “Living Legends.” Her autobiography Gemini was a finalist for the National Book Award, and several of her books have received NAACP Image Awards. She has received some twenty-five honorary degrees, been named Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle Magazine, The Ladies Home Journal and Ebony, was the first recipient of the Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award, and has been awarded the Langston Hughes Medal for poetry. Nikki Giovanni lives in Christiansburg, Virginia, where she is a professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Bryan Collier is the Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winner of numerous children's books, including Rosa and Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When he's not painting, he spends his time visiting schools and encouraging young artists and readers. Bryan lives in New York with his wife and daughter. www.bryancollier.com

Categories

• Juvenile Nonfiction / History / United States / 20th Century
• Juvenile Nonfiction / People & Places / United States / African American & Black
• Juvenile Nonfiction / Social Topics / Prejudice & Racism
• Juvenile Nonfiction / Social Topics / Civil & Human Rights

Product Details

ISBN: 9780805071061
ISBN-10: 0805071067
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication Date: October 1st, 2005
Pages: 40
Language: English

Recommended Reading Level

Minimum Age: 4
Maximum Age: 8
Minimum Grade Level: P
Maximum Grade Level: 3

“Paired very effectively with Giovanni's passionate, direct words, Collier's large watercolor-and-collage illustrations depict Parks as an inspiring force that radiates golden light.” —Booklist, Starred Review

“Purposeful in its telling, this is a handsome and thought-provoking introduction to these watershed acts of civil disobedience.” —School Library Journal

“Giovanni and Collier offer a moving interpretation of Rosa Park's momentous refusal to give up her bus seat. The author brings her heroine very much to life...a fresh take on a remarkable historic event.” —Publishers Weekly

“An essential volume for classrooms and libraries.” —Kirkus Reviews