A Sweet Smell of Roses

Two sisters sneak out of their house to join in a March led by Dr. King. Angela Johnson's poetic words and Velasquez's charcoal illustrations transport you to the civil rights era. Velasquez does not use any color except for the red in the teddy bears ribbon, the flag, and the roses. I thought his illustrations were very powerful without needing color. This story is unique because you get a peak into this period of time through the eyes of a child. They march through town with their head held high, listening to the words of Dr. King. After the march they return home to their worried mother, almost unaware of the mark they just made on history.

Although many assume that politics is an adult affair, the reality is that children are often intimately concerned with political matters, both because they are effected by them, and because they are interested in them. Certainly, as the daughter of politically aware and active parents, I myself grew up surrounded by discussions of everything from the latest elections to the controversies surrounding my father's organization to help the homeless in our area (very unpopular with our mayor, apparently). I vividly recall, moreover, a lunchtime conversation I once had with a co-worker - an African-American woman originally from Georgia - about how she snuck out of her house, as a young girl, and defied her fearful mother's prohibition on show more her attending a local Civil Rights event, in order to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak. "I just had to go," she told me, "there was a feeling in me, that I had to be there."

I was strongly reminded of that lunchtime discussion, and of my own childhood and adolescent experiences (my very first protest march, at age twelve, was called by the NAACP), by A Sweet Smell of Roses, a picture-book tribute to the many unnamed children who participated in the Civil Rights Movement. A simple text follows the narrator and her younger sister Minnie as they slip out of their home, in order to participate in a march led by King, while the black and white illustrations - relived in each scene by one red element, be it the flag, or a teddy-bear's ribbon - beautifully capture each moment of the story. An outstanding book, one which captures the child's role in an important movement in American history, this is also just a beautiful work of art. The illustrations, done by Eric Velasquez in charcoal, are simple stunning! Highly recommended, to all child activists out there (and there are many of them!), and to young readers interested in the Civil Rights Movement, and the role of children in that movement. show less

I really enjoyed this historical fiction story for many reasons. First, I like the plot of the story. I enjoyed how the story was about two young girls that snuck out of their house to witness history being made before their eyes. I enjoyed reading about the civil rights movements from a young, African American girl’s perspective because children’s perspectives about historical events tend to be rose colored. Even if there was great violence or hardship, a child’s perspective is more positive and hopeful. The book touched on the unrest slightly but it was not a major aspect of the story and I enjoyed that element because it focused more on the positives events of the civil rights movement more than the negative events. Another show more reason why I enjoyed this story was the historical context. I love history and historically based book and I think they are great books to include into elementary school history lessons. With this historical fiction book, in particular, I liked how the book was based about a true event but with fictitious characters. However, even though the book is fiction, I am sure that some young children may have snuck out of their houses to witness historical movements but it was just not written about and I find that interesting about this story. The main idea of this story focuses on the civil rights movements and how children were involved, even if not directly. Another important idea that this book could represent is to encourage young people to find their voice and stand up for what they believe in. show less

A Sweet Smell of Roses takes into the shoes of two young girls as they join Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to march for freedom. The book begins early in the morning and ends in the afternoon, following the girls from front porch through the market to the march and back. The black and white charcoal drawings are highlighted with a few punches of red, the bow on a bear on of the girls holds, then again on the stripes of the American Flag, and finally on roses in the window.

That red bow seemed to say something about the youth as an important and maybe underrepresented part of the Civil Rights Movement. All throughout the story, the sweet smell of roses lingers, associating it with the idea of freedom, equality, and non-violence. This book is show more a reminder to me of the roles that many unnamed people and children played in the Civil Rights movement. show less

Many times we think of political acts and legal movements as an adult manner but this book allows readers to view it from the perspective of a child. Here we see the effects discrimination had on children of the time. The girl and her sister sneak out of the house while their mother is sleeping in order to go to the protest of Dr.King. This book emphasizes his impact with speeches and marches and the girls in the book describe it as the smell of roses This language is portrayed through the small illustrations of red on every page until the bush of roses towards the end. The conflict provides empathy for characters emotions with people shouting back "You are not right, equality cannot be yours." This book although informational relates show more on a children's level of understanding the problems segregation and discrimination caused through the story of the girls. show less

Angela Johnson writes an easy book about the civil rights movement. But unlike most major civil right pieces, this story is told in the view of a young child. The story is brief but powerful.

The story is of two young girls that sneak away from home to hear Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The author gives details about what a person in the audience might have experienced on that day. The author also uses the smell of roses as a motif that the girls experience before, during, and after the speech.