Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement is a book both easy to categorize and difficult. It is nonfiction. It is a biography of Fannie Lou Hamer--a picture book biography. A biography written in verse. So it's poetry too. And it's about the civil rights movement. Yes, the focus is on Fannie Lou Hamer's role in the civil rights movement, but, it isn't as if it's her story alone. It is so much more than that. The fact that it is a picture book biography written in verse about the civil rights movement makes it a great example of a picture book for older readers. (And the fact that it's about the civil rights movement, and, a heroine of the movement, makes it a great example of a diverse title and one highlighting a remarkable woman.) So there are at least half a dozen reasons why one would want to pick this one up and read it.
But could I be forgetting the most important reason to seek this one out to read?! It is a GREAT read. It was fascinating, absorbing, compelling. I've read a dozen or so books--mainly for young readers, I admit--about the civil rights movement, yet I still found myself learning things I hadn't known before. I love to learn as a I read. And it is so beautifully written, the narrative voice is just outstanding. A typical spread includes one poem and an illustration by Ekua Holmes.
Would I recommend it??? YES!
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
1 comment:
Sounds worth checking out!
Post a Comment