Rosa Parks (Breaking Barriers)

This texts covers many facets of Rosa Parks’ life from her childhood all throughout her adult years until the late 1980’s. This nonfiction book gives a general introduction of what Rosa’s life was like when she was a child and discusses her education and involvement in organizations that she was part of. I feel that this book would be best for upper elementary and middle school aged students because of how it is written. It is written with an emphasis on vocabulary words and explanations of behaviors during the time of segregation.
This book is written in chronological structure since it follows her life story from when she was born throughout her life except for the first section titled, “A Legacy of Freedom”. This show more section’s purpose is to set the tone for the rest of the text so that the reader is aware of the major impact Rosa Parks has had on racial injustice in American history. I feel that this text structure works for this book because it allows the reader to understand how she became involved in the Civil Rights Movement and the role she played. The book also offers a timeline and glossary in the back that serves the purpose of assisting the reader in vocabulary meanings and shows the progression of achievements throughout Rosa’s life. show less

This is a very informative biography of Rosa Parks that details the many wondrous things she accomplished in her life. It discusses her beginnings as a young girl growing up in Alabama with her family on her grandfathers farm, to becoming a national figure and heroine. Parks was taught by her parents to value her education so that she would never have to cook or clean for someone else. In valuing her education, she received her teaching certification. She even registered to vote numerous times in order to ensure her voice and vote mattered. She fought past the prejudice surrounding her and became a figure of freedom and forward-thinking.