Revolution

Reviewed by: Karen Sandlin Silverman - Scarborough High School, Scarborough, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: November 11, 2014

Review

Set during the "Freedom Summer"? in Mississippi, the second entry in Wiles' Sixties trilogy tells the story of Sunny - a white girl - as she watches her town react to the Civil Rights Act and Freedom Summer while also coming to terms with having a new stepmother. Alternating chapters tell the story of African-American Ray as he struggles against Jim Crow laws. Described as a "documentary novel,"? Wiles intersperses the fictional stories with snippets of history and biographical information (e.g., Lyndon Johnson). The book is very visual - photographs, posters, and song lyrics are scattered throughout the book. This was such a fun read and so well written, but the binding is absolutely wrong for this series. The book is so lengthy and so visual and the binding is so tight, that this is a difficult book to actually hold and read. It would have worked much better in a larger size to allow for a reduction in the total number of pages. Volume one - Countdown, an ALA Notable Book - was set against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Overall Book Score: excellent