History looks different when it is seen through the eyes of a child! Very thought-provoking book...it would be great to read in a history class when talking about Ruby Bridges & desegregation ( )

Sharenow takes the reader into the world of white supremacists like the Cheerleaders, the women who jeered at six-year-old Ruby Bridges as she walked into her elementary school in New Orleans's Ninth Ward in 1960. Louise is thirteen, and her mother Pauline has pulled her out of school to protest desegregation. Pauline spends her mornings screaming with the Cheerleaders and her afternoons drinking herself into oblivion while Louise runs her boarding house, Rooms on Desire.When Morgan Miller, a Jewish editor from New York, briefly stays at the boarding house, both Louise and her mother are fascinated. Morgan has come south to renew his broken relationship with his family, but quickly becomes involved in a conflict with members of the Klan. By eavesdropping on her mother's conversations with Morgan, Louise finds out things about herself and her mother she had never known. Pauline is both more broken and more loving than Louise had ever realized. What comes as a result of the book's tragic ending shows how courage and strength are imperfect yet present, even within the most racist of characters. ( )

Louise's mother is one of the group of people that arrive each morning to taunt a little black girl, Ruby Briudges, as she enters the school building. Forced integration was not popular in this community and it resulted in viciousness and cruelty.

This story takes place in the 1960's and tells of public school integration from the viewpoint of the white people living in the community. ( )

This story takes place in 1960, when Ruby Bridges became the first African American student at an elementary school in New Orleans. The narrator’s mother is one of a group of women who have taken their children out of school to protest this action. They gather at the school each morning to watch Ruby walk through the crowd as she’s escorted into school. Six-year-old Ruby is taunted and teased as she walks into the school building, and this group of women, known as the Cheerleaders, is responsible for some ugly comments and actions. The prejudice and treatment of Ruby is only one of the discussion points of this young adult novel. There is also rape, Communism, KuKluxKlan, and more as fodder for involved, issue-based discussion. ( )

Louise’s mother is a cheerleader, but not the kind that cheers at football games. She’s part of a group of mothers that protest the integration of schools in 1960 New Orleans. Louise, pulled out of school, is not sure how she feels about integration either. It takes a journalist who’s staying at their boardinghouse to show them the other side of things and make them think more about their actions. Based on true events. A quick read but for older teens because of some of the violet acts described. ( )