Freedom Summer (book)
 | |
| Author | Deborah Wiles |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Jerome Lagarrigue |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | 2002 |
| Pages | 32 pages |
| ISBN | 978-0689878299 |
Freedom Summer is a children's book written by Deborah Wiles and illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue. Originally published as a hardcover edition in 2002, the book is now available as a paperback from Simon & Schuster.
Summary
Set in Mississippi during the summer of 1964, a summer of desegregation in the South, the book is about two best friends. John Henry is black and the narrator is white. They do everything together, such as swimming in a creek. They cannot swim in the town pool together because black people are not allowed to use the public swimming pool.
Then the narrator is told that segregation was ruled as being unconstitutional. He is really excited as this means that he can go to the town pool tomorrow with John Henry together. The boys are more excited than ever before but when they arrive at the town pool the following day, they are in shock because the town pool has been closed. The entire pool has been filled with tar as white people rather close down the entire venue instead of sharing it with black people.
The boys are heavily disappointed and the book ends with a picture of the two boys entering a grocery store which was previously for whites only.
Awards
Illustrator Jerome Lagarrigue won the John Steptoe Award for New Talent[1] for this book. In 2002 the book won the Ezra Jack Keats/New York Public Library award for best new picture book writer of the year and best new illustrator.