Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature)
Weatherford’s free verse tersely but vividly recreates the feelings of a ten-year-old African-American girl in 1963 as individuals participating in the Civil Rights Movement are being confronted with police dogs and water canons. She recalls the meetings, and the marches, but in particular, the Sunday at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where, after Sunday School, Ku Klux Klan members blew up the church, killing four young girls. The horror is made clear; then each of the girls is remembered in sadness. The black cloth cover under the dust jacket sets the emotional tone for the tragic story. Full-page black and white photographs from the time face the off-white text pages with their few lines of type plus gray photographic vignettes of objects related to the text, like fancy socks and gloves, or the coins for the collection plate. The images have been chosen to emphasize the drama of the hurtful events of the day. Brick-red geometric shapes are also repeated in varying positions on the text pages, perhaps suggesting the fragmentation of the church. They add a sense of mystery as they help unify the images. An Author’s Note adds factual historic information, while explaining the fictional function of the narrator of the moving presentation. 2007, WordSong/Boyds Mills Press, $17.95. Ages 8 to 12.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices 2008)
Child’s-eye details ground Carole Boston Weatherford’s story of the Civil Rights movement in 1963, especially in Birmingham, Alabama. Her spare and deeply affecting narrative poem gradually builds to the church bombing in that city in which four African American girls were murdered. There is a shocking numbness in the matter-of-fact voice of the fictional narrator, a young girl describing significant events in that year. “The year I turned ten / I missed school to march with other children / For a seat at whites-only lunch counters.” That terrible Sunday in May is also her birthday: “The day I turned ten . . . / My brother sopped red-eye gravy with biscuits . . . The day I turned ten / Someone tucked a bundle of dynamite / Under the church steps / Then lit the fuse of hate.” The young narrator goes on to remember each of the four girls, ending with these poignant, painful lines about Carole Robinson: “Carole, who thought she might want / To teach history someday / Or at least make her mark on it.” Archival photographs on each two-page spread provide haunting and disturbing visual imagery (e.g., firehoses on marchers, a hooded Klansman, the heavily damaged church, four smiling faces in school photographs). Extensive notes at the volume’s end elaborate on historical details referenced in the poem and photographs of this compelling work. CCBC Category: Poetry. 2007, Wordsong / Boyds Mills Press, 39 pages, $17.95. Age 10 and older.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2007 (Vol. 75, No. 16))
Exquisitely understated design lends visual potency to a searing poetic evocation of the Birmingham church bombing of 1963. The unnamed fictional narrator relates the events of "[t]he year I turned ten," this refrain introducing such domestic commonplaces as her first sip of coffee and "doz[ing] on Mama's shoulder" at church. She juxtaposes these against the momentous events of the year: the Children's March in Birmingham for which the narrator missed school, the March on Washington and the mass meetings at church that she found so soporific. The same matter-of-fact tone continues to relate what happened "[t]he day I turned ten:" "10:22 a.m. The clock stopped, and Jesus' face / Was blown out of the only stained-glass window / Left standing. . . . " Documentary gray dominates the palette, the only color angry streaks of red that evoke shattered window frames. The poems appear on recto accompanied by images of childhood—patent-leather shoes, pencils, bobby socks—while full-bleed archival photographs face them on verso. It's a gorgeous memorial to the four killed on that horrible day, and to the thousands of children who braved violence to help change the world. 2007, Wordsong/Boyds Mills, 40p, $17.95. Category: Poetry. Ages 10 to 14. Starred Review. © 2007 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jessica Robinson (Kutztown Book Review, Fall 2008)
This book is actually a narrative poem written in free verse about a little girl at church in 1963 on the day of the bombing. It is the little girl’s tenth birthday, and she is upset that it is such a sad day. The book ends with individual poems (that are mini-biographies) dedicated to each girl killed in the bombing. I thought this was a great historical fiction book. The book is setup like a picture book with authentic black and white photographs of the time period. The book also includes an author’s note that describes in detail the actual events during this time period and the specific day of the bombing. This would be a great classroom tool for an introduction to a discussion on the past race issues in our country. Category: Historical Fiction/Poetry. 2007, Wordsong, $17.95. Ages 12 to 18.

Charlotte Decker (Library Media Connection, October 2007)
Weatherford's words and archival photographs remind readers of one of our nation's tragedies-the 1963 bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in which four young girls were killed. The fictitious narrator recounts other events of the Civil Rights Movement. The bombing of the church and the deaths of innocent children shocked the country and proved to be a pivotal part of the call for equal rights. The author points out that 39 years would pass before the case would be closed and the perpetrators brought to justice. Teachers who use Christopher Paul Curtis's, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 (Delacorte Press, 1995) can use this book at the beginning of the unit to provide historical background or at the conclusion as a summary of events. Each page is filled with emotion as the reader shares with the narrator the horrors of hatred. This is a testament to the four young girls whose deaths brought about positive changes to a city that was racially divided. This is a reminder of a time when ordinary people became involved in extraordinary situations in the cause of freedom. This is a book that should be in every library collection. Highly Recommended. 2007, Wordsong (Boyds Mills Press), 40pp., $17.95 hc. Ages 9 to 18.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2008)
Dramatic blank verse crystallizes the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. A fictional ten-year-old sets the scene ("The year I turned ten / I missed school to march with other children / For a seat at a whites-only lunch counter"), then recounts the bombing. Black-and-white archival photos provide a visual backdrop, and an author's note gives background. Reading list, websites. Category: Nonfiction-Literature. 2007, Boyds/Wordsong, 40pp, 17.95. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.