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Summary
Summary
Two young girls not only witness but help to change history in this inspiring and urgent Civil Rights-era picture book by three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Angela Johnson.
There's a sweet, sweet smell in the air as two young girls sneak out of their house, down the street, and across town to where men and women are gathered, ready to march for freedom and justice.
Inspired by the countless young people who took a stand against the forces of injustice, two Coretta Scott King Honorees, Angela Johnson and Eric Velasquez, offer a stirring yet jubilant glimpse of the youth involvement that played an invaluable role in the Civil Rights movement.
Author Notes
Angela Johnson was born on June 18, 1961 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She attended Kent State University and worked with Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) as a child development worker. She has written numerous children's books including Tell Me a Story, Mama, Shoes like Miss Alice, Looking for Red, A Cool Moonlight and Lily Brown's Paintings. She won the Coretta Scott King Author's Award three times for Toning the Sweep in 1994, for Heaven in 1999, and for The First Part Last in 2004, which also won the Michael L. Printz Award. In 2003, she was named a MacArthur fellow.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-This quiet, gentle story pays tribute to the many unnamed children who participated in the African-American struggle for civil rights. It opens: "After a night of soft rain there is a sweet smell of roses as my sister, Minnie, and I slip past Mama's door and out of the house down Charlotte Street." They head toward the curb market where folks, mostly adults, are gathering to listen to and march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Large, powerful charcoal images dominate the pages with particular attention paid to facial expressions. The artist shows the strength and resolve of the marchers in the face of "people who scream, shout, and say, `You are not right. Equality can't be yours.'" Once the speeches are over, the sisters race home and are met at the door by their worried mother, "And as we tell her about the march, the curtains flow apart, and there is a sweet smell of roses all through our house." The only color that appears in this book is the deep red of the ribbon around the neck of Minnie's teddy bear, the U.S. flag, and the roses. Without going into much detail, this book nonetheless drives home the fact that children were involved in the movement and makes the experience more real for those just learning about this chapter of American history.-Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
According to an author's note, Johnson's (When I Am Old with You) story pays tribute to the children who played a role in the civil rights movement, the "brave boys and girls who-like their adult counterparts-could not resist the scent of freedom carried aloft by the winds of change." Velasquez (The Sound That Jazz Makes) notes that his art pays homage to Harvey Dinnerstein and Burt Silverman, whose artwork "help[ed] spread the news of an oppressed community's fight for justice and equality." Together, text and art evoke the gumption of two spirited sisters who sneak out of their home one day to participate in a march led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "After a night of soft rain/ there is a sweet smell of roses/ as my sister, Minnie, and I slip/ past Mama's door and out of the house/ down Charlotte Street," opens the spare, poetic narrative. The smell of roses surfaces repeatedly-as the group marches past hecklers, as Dr. King addresses the marchers, and as the girls return home to their worried mother, at which point the scent emanates from blooms in a window box of their house. Some readers may wonder what prompted the sisters to surreptitiously join the march, but most will appreciate experiencing the event from a child's eye-view. Velasquez's understated, realistic charcoal illustrations make effective use of color, seen only in the red stripes of the American flag, the red ribbon around a teddy bear's neck and the red roses in the window. Ages 5-8. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Primary) Two new picture books set in the civil rights-, protest-era South: one is romanticized idealism, the other child's-eye-view realism. Johnson's A Sweet Smell of Roses is a poetic evocation of a 1960s freedom march. The young black narrator and her little sister dash out of the house one morning and join a march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout the day -- listening to speeches, marching, enduring harassment from onlookers -- they smell roses. Then, singing freedom songs, the two skip home. The pervasive smell of roses is an effective metaphor for the scent of freedom in the air, and Johnson's poetic text is powerful. But in attempting to reflect a universal experience, the story becomes too generic, and the girls' blithely unchaperoned participation undercuts the tension and danger of the actual events. Velasquez's red-accented pencil illustrations capture the sweep and emotion of the march, although the girls' central role (they march in the front row with Dr. King) feels artificial. Much more successful is Weatherford's Freedom on the Menu, an account of the 1960 sit-ins at the segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, from the perspective of eight-year-old Connie. The text -- full of detail and lively dialogue -- moves along smartly, taking readers from the first protests to the eventual integration of the lunch counter. Connie, unlike her older siblings, is mostly an observer, but the author manages to hold true to her experience without sacrificing content or veracity. Humor occasionally lightens the mood, as when, after Brother has announced that he's joining the sit-ins, and Sister that she intends to picket downtown, Connie says, ""I want to go, too.... I'm plenty big enough to hold a sign, and I know I can sit."" Readers will cheer when Connie, so long denied a banana split at the lunch counter, is finally served one with ""an extra cherry on a mound of whipped cream."" Lagarrigue's somber, impressionistic oils lend the story dignity and weight. [Review covers these titles: A Sweet Smell of Roses and Freedom on the Menu.] (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Two children take part in a freedom march in the days of the civil-rights struggle in the south. Martin Luther King Jr. is there, inspiring them with his words and actions. But the marchers are mostly ordinary citizens, old and young, "walking our way to freedom." Johnson carefully chooses simple, descriptive words and phrases that reach all the senses. The children listen to King's words, feel the bright sunlight, and smell the flowers along the road, as more and more people join the march, singing and clapping. They pass the haters, screaming at them from the side of the road. At day's end they return home, having played a small role in history. Velasquez's illustrations are marvelous, perfectly complementing the text and giving the words an extra punch and impact. He draws them entirely in charcoal with just a touch of red to draw the eye to the teddy bear's ribbon, the American flag, and the roses whose sweet smell accompanies the girls throughout the day. Powerful and moving. (Picture book. 6-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
K-Gr. 2. History and politics get personal for young readers in this dramatic, large-size picture book about an African American child and her younger sister who steal out of the house to join the Civil Rights marchers and listen to Dr. King speak. The child's clear, first-person narrative draws on the language of the struggle (we look farther down the road ), and Velasquez' realistic charcoal pictures, in black and white with an occasional touch of red, evoke the news footage of the time. The protestors confront the glowering police, and there are children among the racists who yell, You are not right. Equality can't be yours. But this book is not only about segregation; it's also about the crowds of people walking our way toward freedom, the thrilling portrait of Dr. King, and the two brave kids who cross the line. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2005 Booklist
