Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement. Angela Joy. Illustrated by Janelle Washington. 2022. 64 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: The boy they found was far frome home,
far from Mother and Grandmother.
"Here on a visit," Papa Mose would say.
The sheriff set out to dig a grave that day,
To hide the crime in the mud of Mississippi,
Where no one would see the boy's suffering.
But Mamie did the harder thing.
She said, "No. You send my son home."
It was the braver thing
That changed everything.
Premise/plot: Choosing Brave is a picture book biography of Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, and perhaps the mother (or godmother) of the Civil Rights Movement. Because of the incredibly, heavy subject matter, I'm thinking it is a picture book for older readers (upper elementary through adults).
My thoughts: Choosing Brave is a powerful, compelling, beautiful, haunting, poignant biography written in verse. It does require a bit of 'bravery' to read it because the subject matter is so heartbreaking and rightly heavy. Each word, each phrase, each line was like a puzzle piece coming together to make an incredible picture. The recurring theme of Mamie choosing to do the harder thing, the braver thing because it was RIGHT thing gives readers much food for thought.
Definitely recommended.
© 2022 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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