NONFICTION

A Ride To Remember: A Civil Rights Story

by Sharon Langley & Amy Nathan (text) & illus. by Floyd Cooper
Abrams. Jan. 2020. 40p. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781419736858.
COPY ISBN
Gr 1-4–As a young girl, Sharon Langley was forbidden to ride the carousel at Gwyn Oak Amusement Park in Baltimore because of her race. This picture book tells the story of how the park was desegregated in the summer of 1963. Following desegregation, the Langleys were the first African American family to walk into the park. Narrated in the first person, Langley’s story is told with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of childhood. Her account is placed in the context of the civil rights movement by noting that August 28, 1963, was the day that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Today the carousel is located on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Illustrations rendered in muted colors fill the pages.
VERDICT A solid addition to U.S. history collections for its subject matter and its first-person historical narrative.
Reviewed by Patricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community College, Mt. Carmel , Dec 01, 2019

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