Judy DaPolito (Children's Literature)
This excellent report of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott in 1955 and 1956 details the issues and focuses on the people who took part in that famous civil action. The introduction explains some of the most restrictive aspects of segregation, such as separation in schools, churches, restaurants, drinking fountains and movie theaters. It also makes clear that the poll tax and the literacy test were used to keep many black citizens from voting, even those who were well educated, and that blacks who demanded their rights were often subjected to physical violence. The first three chapters describe four black women who were guilty of sitting in bus seats reserved for white passengers. The first woman, college professor Jo Ann Robinson, was forced off a nearly empty bus because she sat down in the fifth row of seats. The second and third, both teenage girls, were arrested in separate incidents in which they objected to being ordered to give up their legitimate seats to white passengers who boarded the buses when the seats reserved for white riders were full. In court, one was found guilty and the other pled guilty. E. D. Nixon, founder of the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wanted to take one of these cases to the Supreme Court, but feared that the young women would have trouble surviving the stresses of the trials. When Rosa Parks, a forty-two-year-old seamstress and NAACP volunteer was arrested and jailed in a similar incident, Nixon had the right person. Attorney Fred Gray represented her in a case that was resolved by the Supreme Court decision that segregation on the Montgomery buses was unconstitutional. While the case was being argued, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the black bus riders of Montgomery into a boycott that lasted from December 5, 1955 until November 13, 1956, the day the Supreme Court announced its decision. The boycott lasted all that time in spite of arrests of boycott leaders, bombings of their houses, and lawsuits to stop their providing rides for those who needed them most. A final chapter discusses the influence of the boycott and the court decision. The book is thoroughly illustrated with black and white photographs showing the people and the places involved in the boycott. Eight pages of notes, a three-page annotated bibliography, and an index follow the text. 2006, Holiday House, $12.95. Ages 9 to 12.

Meredith Kiger, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
Written by an acclaimed author of nonfiction for young readers, this well-researched account of the Montgomery bus boycott is a must-read for students in the upper elementary grades and middle school. The account sets the stage for the boycott by reviewing what life was like for blacks living in the South in the 1950s. The author uses personal accounts of various citizen participants as well as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., providing powerful words and experiences for readers. The numerous black-and-white photos make it seem like this event occurred long ago, but many teachers will have actually lived through this turbulent time and can relate to it. Students today need to be informed of the courage of others and the struggles overcome to appreciate the freedoms that they do have today. A bibliography and sources for the many quotes in the book are included. The eyewitness accounts bring this story to life. 2006, Holiday House, $18.95. Ages 10 to adult.

CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007)
Russell Freeman’s absorbing narrative documents the Montgomery Bus Boycott in a volume further enriched with numerous archival photographs. From an opening chapter that provides an overview of conditions for blacks in the Jim Crow south, where both laws and attitudes were oppressive, Freedman goes on to tell the painful and compelling stories of several black woman who were humiliated, and in one case arrested (and later convicted for defying segregation laws and resisting arrest), on Montgomery buses prior to Rosa Parks. These stories set the stage for the rest of the narrative, which focuses on Parks’s arrest and the passionate, carefully executed response of the black community as it sought to challenge the status quo both in the courts and on the streets. The boycott is detailed as a tremendous act of organization, faith, courage, and cooperation, involving both well-known leaders and everyday citizens in the Montgomery black community. As seen here, the ingenuity and solidarity of that community and its supporters as Montgomery’s government leaders and others tried to stop them at every turn was remarkable, and remains inspiring. CCBC Category: Historical People, Places, and Events. 2006, Holiday House, 114 pages, $18.95. Ages 10-14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 17))
Beginning with the story of a college professor's frightening experience on a Montgomery bus, Freedman brings this oft-told story to an audience ready to move beyond the popular legend. Civil-rights activist E.D. Nixon was looking for the best person to be the standard-bearer in a constitutional challenge to the segregated bus system of Montgomery, Ala. Though several others had been confronted or arrested on the buses, Rosa Parks was the perfect choice. Intelligent and quiet, the 42-year-old Parks had been involved in civil-rights work for years. Her arrest was used to launch the modern Civil Rights movement, resulting in a successful strike of 381 days and the eventual U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Alabama's bus segregation laws were unconstitutional. Freedman does a masterful job of making a complex point in history-with so many key players and pivotal events-accessible and interesting to a young audience. The focus is on everyday people acting on behalf of what was right, even before they knew it would become a movement, people who became "actors in an historical drama that changed a nation." Clear prose, well-chosen photographs and superb source notes and bibliography make this an essential source on the topic. (map, acknowledgments, index) 2006, Holiday House, 114p, $18.95. Category: Nonfiction. Ages 8 to 14. Starred Review. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Audrey Irene Daigneault (Library Media Connection, March 2007)
Russell Freedman has an uncanny ability to pick details that give a powerful voice to past events. Here the reader is introduced to several of the important figures who coordinated the boycott. Theirs was a determined commitment that changed our country and their fears, hopes, pain, and tears pour from Freedman's narrative. The reader is there at the event, a silent observer to the momentous changes taking place. The b&w photographs recall the television coverage of the time and give face to the major figures. The historical facts have been researched and an annotated bibliography provides useful documentation for individuals who wish to learn more about these events. This title is an excellent read-aloud choice for social studies classes. It is one of the best books available on this topic for this age group because of the author's ability to personalize the past. This text could be used to anchor discussions on civil disobedience and nonviolent protest, as well as for individual research. It is a must read. Index. Highly Recommended. 2006, Holiday House, 114pp., $18.95 hc. Ages 10 to 14.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December 2006 (Vol. 60, No. 4))
Before the everyday civil-rights heroes of Ann Bausum’s Freedom Riders boarded the buses (BCCB 4/06), citizens of Montgomery, Alabama, wore down their shoe leather in a courageous protest against abuse of their personal dignity and constitutional rights. Freedman recovers the facts behind what has now become an iconic, nearly mythologized, event, digging back several years before Rosa Parks’ acclaimed bus ride to acknowledge two other women, black college professor Jo Ann Robinson and teen schoolgirl Claudette Colvin, whose previous resistance to segregation laws on public transit set the stage for the massive protest to follow. Likewise, he takes readers back to the days when the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was hardly a local, much less a national, name and discusses how Parks and King (rather than Robinson and Colvin) displayed exactly the ideal personality traits and were in exactly the right time and place to become the rallying figures behind a carefully strategized boycott. Freedman’s text moves at the speed of fiction, and he seamlessly interjects just the necessary tidbits of background to contextualize events without interrupting the pace of a well-told tale. Cover art and layout are decidedly less than attention grabbing, but generous inclusion of black-and-white photos, careful quote sourcing, bibliography with children’s books noted, and index will make this a draw for both report writers and readers who appreciate lively historical writing. Review Code: R* -- Recommended. A book of special distinction. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Holiday House, 112p. illus. with photographs., $18.95. Grades 5-8.

Marilyn Egner (The Kutztown University Book Review, Spring 2007)
This book gives an intimate view of those who spurred on the Civil Rights Movement in our country. Key personalities, from Jo Ann Robinson to Martin Luther King Jr., describe events as they experienced them. Historically, this is a good book describing the events that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The black and white photos help to provide the real truth to these matters, while the easy readability allows for students to use and understand the book. Category: Non-Fiction.. 2006, Holiday House, $18.95. Ages 12 to 18.

Dotsy Harland (VOYA, October 2006 (Vol. 29, No. 4))
In 1955, the law in Montgomery, Alabama, said that African Americans had to sit in the backs of buses. They were also often forced to give up their seats to whites if buses became crowded. Some African Americans tried to fight back, refusing to give up their seats, and were arrested and fined. Leaders of the local black community wanted to take this issue to federal court, but they needed just the right person to help them win. They found that person on December 1, 1955, when a woman named Rosa Parks was arrested after politely refusing to relinquish her bus seat to a white person. Black leaders were hoping to create a high-profile case, and felt that the gentle, law-abiding Parks had the maturity and strength of character necessary to see the process through. Parks's case sparked an organized boycott of Montgomery buses, bringing the bus company to its knees and setting off an explosive nationwide struggle over civil rights. Freedman, a Newbery Award-winning author, highlights this heated period of American history with sensitivity and enthusiasm. He adds interest to the familiar story of Rosa Parks by including information on many other key participants, both black and white, who were crucial to the boycott's success. Freedman's clear, fluid prose causes this excellently documented book to read like a novel. Compelling photographs of significant people and events are placed on almost every page. This book is a must for public and school library collections. VOYA CODES: 5Q 3P M J (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2006, Holiday House, 114p.; Index. Photos. Maps. Biblio. Source Notes., $18.95. Ages 11 to 15.