Independent reading level: 1-3

Independent Reading Level: Grade 3

Independent Reading Level - Grade 2
Awards:
2010 Publishers Weekly -- Starred Review (*)
2011 South Carolina Children's, Junior and Young Adult Book Award -- Picture Book (Nominee)
2012 Alabama Camellia Award -- Grades K-1 (Finalist)
2012 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award -- Grades K-3 (Nominee)

This story is about a young boy and his mother sitting at the back of the bus. This story takes place in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. The young boy plays with his marble, while the bus is moving, the marble rolls to the front by Ms. Parks. Ms. Parks looks back at the boy by smiling and winking at him. Then, she put the marble back into the groves, as the bus moving it rolled back to the young boy. However, his mother wants him to put the marble away. When the bus comes to a stop, everyone was wondering why they stopped. Come to find out it was Ms. Parks, she refuses to give up her seat to the white passengers. The bus driver calls the police, and they arrest Rosa Parks for not moving to the back of the bus. The young boy wonder are they in trouble, his mother said no. She believes it will all disappear soon. As the mother held her chin up high, her son follows along by holding his chin up. This story shows so much confidence from Rosa Parks. Rosa believes she should sit anywhere on the bus, not just the back. The part that stood out was the marble. In my opinion, I believe the marble represents freedom because, at the end of the story, he did not want to hide the marble anymore. The young boy was not afraid and his mother. The illustrations in the story have soft and hard paint texture. This story overall is inspiring and amazing. I just love how they all were confident and not afraid. This story is told in first-person, the young boy's perspective. ( )

From the eyes of a child at the back of the bus, the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 had just began. Rolling down Cleveland Avenue on the bus by a window that did not close sat a little boy and his mother...and his marble. That marble was his prized possession. As he played with that marble, the bus suddenly stopped. Why weren't they going anywhere? The bus was overcrowded to say the least, whites in the front and blacks in the back. But still, the bus was not moving. What was the problem? And then, out of the window, he saw Mrs. Rosa being hauled off the bus in handcuffs by the police. She refused to give up her seat. Maybe she didn't know that in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955...white people did not care about how tired a black woman was who only wanted to take a load off her feet. This was only the beginning. ( )