Deborah Wiles

Best friends Joe and John Henry enjoy many of the usual pleasures of boyhood together one hot summer - swimming in Fiddler's Creek (in their birthday suits!), savoring the ice pops from Mr. Mason's General Store - but the realities of segregated life in 1964 Mississippi intrude, keeping them from doing everything they would like, and from being too open about their friendship. When they learn that a new law requires their town to permit everyone - black and white - to use public facilities show more like the swimming pool, they are excited at the prospect of swimming in those crystal-clear waters together, for the very first time. But when they arrive at the pool on the fateful morning in question, they discover that the town, determined to resist integration, has filled it with hot tar, rather than allow blacks to swim. The law may have changed, but the people still had a long way to go...

Based upon author Deborah Wiles' memories of growing up in the South during the tumultuous Civil Rights era, Freedom Summer is a poignant exploration of friendship across racial lines, narrated by a young white boy (Joe) who, although content to have a black boy (John Henry) as a boon companion, has never really questioned the "way things are." It is only when change seems possible, and then impossible, that Joe truly considers how their friendship (and their town) might look to John Henry. I appreciated the perspective offered here on an important moment in our history, and the insight given, through the story, into the lives of ordinary young kids during extraordinary times. I was particularly impressed by the fact that the author chose to realistically depict "what happened next," highlighting the fact that things didn't immediately change, after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - there was (and still is) a long way to go.

With an engaging tale of friendship amidst the senseless wrongs of racism and segregation, and immensely appealing artwork by Jerome Lagarrigue, Freedom Summer is an outstanding work of historical fiction for the younger, picture-book set! Highly recommended to anyone looking for children's stories set during the Civil Rights era, or featuring interracial friendship. It could, perhaps, be paired with Jacqueline Woodson's The Other Side, which presents the story of a friendship between a young black girl and her white neighbor in this same period. show less

CW: Shooting of protestors with some descriptions of victims

Well I have to say that the author chose an incredible format to deliver this informative account of a tragic historical event.

I didn't know anything about the Kent State protests so I found the introduction and notes at the end to be really helpful.

The format was genius. Not so much in that it was a verse novel as, if I am being honest, the writing itself wasn't particularly noteworthy. It was the fact that the author essentially show more wrote a conversation (or should I say heated debate) between people who represented different points of view on the Kent State murders. I found the voices to be quite distinct in their tone but it did help immensely that different fonts were used for the different points of view. I liked that the fonts themselves were carefully considered and reflected the characters perfectly. For example, a small sized 'soft' font was used for the scared members of the community and a bold capitilised font was used for the angry community members. Very clever. I was quite moved by the personal details included about the four slain students. It is amazing because as a Reader I knew in my heart what side I felt was right but at the same time I definitely think the author respectfully captured all sides of this terrible event. Definitely worth reading if you like historical verse novels. show less

Revolution by Deborah Wiles paints a vivid picture of the early Civil Rights Movement, and, in particular the Freedom Summer of 1964. Set in the small town of Greenwood, Mississippi the author delivers an impressive coming-of-age story centered around two children, one white, one black, who are discovering the confusing and frightening facts of racism and segregation. Young civil rights activists arrive in town and set to work on voter registration and setting up “Freedom Schools” to show more help educate the local black population on their rights. This does not sit well with most white Mississippians and tensions mount as quickly as the summer heat.

I thought the author captured the essence of the summer of 1964. From the movies that were playing at the local theatres, to sports and political references, 1964 was brought back clearly to me. The author includes pages of photographs and articles that document the events of that summer which I thought really added to the story. But even more than the facts and figures this is a story that touches both the heart and soul.

Personally I thought Revolution was absolutely brilliant and I had trouble putting it down. History brought to life through excellent storytelling. This is the second in a planned trilogy, the first book dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis, this book the Freedom Summer of 1964. Both were excellent reads and I can tell that Revolution will linger in my mind in the same way that her first book does. I look forward to the final volume in her Sixties trilogy. show less

I would tag this in both "Biography" and "Historical Fiction", because it is a "documentary novel," the term used by the author. So it technically fits both categories. First: it is a novel about an 11 year old girl living in tense times, during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and her family--Air Force officer father, homemaker mother, older sister who mysteriously disappears for strange meetings at her college, adorkable young brother who worships atomic science and wants to be an astronaut, show more and her troubled Uncle Otts, who is suffering from PTSD from his ages-ago war service and comically calls everyone "Private!" or "Sergeant!" but also does scary things like try to dig a bomb shelter in the front yard.

Second: the book contains lots of awesome black and white photos of actual events of the time, quotations from current events, and brief biographies of contemporary historical figures (Truman, JFK, Pete Seeger, Fannie Lou Hamer) along with snippets of song lyrics, visuals of "Duck and Cover" drill advertisements, nuclear attack propaganda, etc. I loved this format, I found it quite fascinating and a great way to set the scene and time period for kid readers who don't necessarily know this background already and who might not be willing to put the book down and Google something unfamiliar they come across. (Unlike me, who was doing just that even with the visual aids! I love being able to call up on YouTube a song mentioned in the book and listen to it during the appropriate chapter. Boy did I do that a lot for the third book in the trilogy, but I'm getting ahead of myself here...)

So, a great novel and a good look back in time for young readers, explaining the Cold War and the political tensions that scared so many people, especially kids who didn't know exactly what was going on. Contains an excellent author's note about how semi-autobiographical it was, how she used names of some of her childhood friends and so on; and it has a great bibliography just like any well-researched nonfiction book, for further reading on the many subjects she touched upon in this book. show less