If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book, mostly because I feel like it would be better as a mini-movie instead of a picture book. The multiple narrators confused me a lot. For example, first the story started out in present and in first person by Marcie talking. Then it skipped to third person with The Bus talking including occasional quotes from Rosa Parks. However, the book did do a good job at informing me about Rosa Parks and her life. Even though I had learned about her in school, I learned some new things such as that Rosa Parks worked in Detroit for Congressman John Conyers after the bus incident and Supreme Court ruling. The book also has accurate illustrations that convey many emotions to the reader. One of the most show more chilling illustrations was the drawing of the KKK wearing the white hooded robes riding horses in the night. Looking at that illustration gave me only a small ounce of the fear and terror the families faced during that time. This message of this story is for readers to consider how much Rosa Parks has affected everyone today and that anyone can stand up for what they believe. show less

If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks by Faith Ringgold is a fantasy tale about the perspective of the bus that Rosa Parks was famously arrested on. The bus walks a little girl through the events of prejudice and racism that occurred during Rosa Park’s life. In the end, you find out that the passengers are people that adored Rosa parks which include: Martin Luther King Jr, E.D. Nixon, and her husband Raymond Parks. I liked that this book went into details about Rosa Parks early childhood because it showed how Rosa lived in fear that the KKK would come to kill her at night. This wasn’t a detail of her life that I had heard before, and it an important detail because it shows that Parks wasn’t just tired the day she refused to show more give up her seat. She lived in fear her whole entire life, and she was incredibly brave for standing up to the people she was frightened of. show less

My children and I took turns reading pages to each other out of this picture book. They really enjoyed learning about Rosa Parks. Both of them couldn’t believe that she would be asked to move so a white person could sit down. My 6 year old daughter read her pages with little help and my 9 year old son with very little help. Both of them were able to answer questions I would ask about the story and illustrations. They both have African American friends and my daughter was hurt to think about them not being friends just because of the color of their skin. The material in this story was of a good quality and a great way to introduce Rosa Parks to young readers.

A young girl named Marcie is waiting for her bus to go to school. A bus pulls up at her stop, but it's not her usual bus. She decides to get on it anyway so she won't be late. Little does she know, this bus ride will be enlightening. The bus starts to tell her all about the story of Rosa Parks and how she was important to the Civil Rights Movement. She took a stand for her rights, well really a sit but it became one of the most controversial events in history. The illustrations give an eerie feel, but it shows us just how far we've come or not come as humans.

I really enjoyed this book by Faith Ringgold, titled “If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks.” It was a unique way to mix a narrative of a little girl, with a magical twist to teach a lesson on civil rights. Little Marcie, who is the main character in the story, did not know that her ride to school would turn into a magical ride back into time. When the bus started talking to her, she quickly realized that her suspicions of this bus was correct. This bus was like no other as it could talk. When it requested for her to keep a special seat reserved for the day, her inquiry led her on an adventure that she would never forget. The storytelling bus, gave her a tour that illustrated a glimpse of the life of Rosa Parks and her show more struggle for civil rights. I enjoyed reading this book because it gave me a worth of facts that I did not know about Rosa Parks in a colorful way. I give this book four out of five stars. It was a great book, but it was somewhat lengthy for a picture book. If I was teaching with this book to early elementary students, I would spread this read-aloud out to two, or even three-day period. show less

Biography of Rosa Parks - told from the perspective of the bus.

Good emphasis on Rosa's education - which is a good entry point into how unusual that was - since she was female and black. Enjoyed the personal background information about her childhood and background - it was informative. The book does oversimplify the fact that Rosa started the civil rights movement, which is unfortunate. Provides readers with a good overview of the subsequent boycott and the Supreme Court decision that declared segregated buses illegal. Some of the pages are a bit wordy and may be intimating for struggling readers.

The illustrations are vibrant and add much to the story.

If a bus could talk, it would tell the story of a young African-American girl named show more Rosa who had to walk miles to her one-room schoolhouse in Alabama while white children rode to their school in a bus. It would tell how the adult Rosa rode to and from work on a segregated city bus and couldn't sit in the same row as a white person. It would tell of the fateful day when Rosa refused to give up her seat to a white man and how that act of courage inspired others around the world to stand up for freedom. show less

If a bus could talk, it would tell the story of a young African-American girl named Rosa who had to walk miles to her one-room schoolhouse in Alabama while white children rode to their school in a bus. It would tell how the adult Rosa rode to and from work on a segregated city bus and couldn't sit in the same row as a white person. It would tell of the fateful day when Rosa refused to give up her seat to a white man and how that act of courage inspired others around the world to stand up for freedom.
In this book a bus does talk, and on her way to school a girl named Marcie learns why Rosa Parks is the mother of the Civil Rights movement. At the end of Marcie's magical ride, she meets Rosa Parks herself at a birthday party with several show more distinguished guests. Wait until she tells her class about this! show less