Freedom Summer by Wiles, Debbie

Title: Freedom Summer

Author: Wiles, Debbie

Illustration: Jerome Lagarrigue

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Comments

CIP info In 1964, Joe is pleased that a new law will allow his best friend John Henry, who is colored, to share the town pool and other public places with him, but he is dismayed to find that prejudice still exists. This book won many awards, and after reading it, it’s easy to see why. A white boy, Joe, and his best friend, John Henry, is black. They swim in the creek because John Henry wasn’t allowed in the town pool. Then one summer the town pool opens and it is supposed to allow everyone in regardless of their skin color. Joe and John Henry are very excited. For the first time they make plans for when they will both get to swim in the clear water of the town pool. The next day the run to the pool and find dump trucks filling the pool with asphalt. Even though John Henry’s brother tells them to go home, they hide in the bushes and watch as the pool is slowly filled with asphalt. The most powerful illustration is of the two boys sitting on the diving board looking over the pool now full of black asphalt. The illustration and text show the lengths people would go to stop the equality laws. It is sad, but true. One of the better books I read this session.