Through My Eyes (bk 1) (64 pgs)

Through My Eyes by: Ruby Bridges

Bridges, Ruby. Through my eyes. Scholastic: New York, 1999.

Summary:
Through My Eyes is Ruby Bridges' account of the school integration process. She shows readers the turmoil and hatred through the innocent eys of a first graders who really just wants to go to school. She doesn't care where that school is. Bridges does not realize the important role she played in this struggle until later in her life when she begins to write this book.

Grades: 3-6
Author: Ruby Bridges
Illustrations: Media-photographs taken during the school integration process
Access Features: "Dear Reader", preface, photo credits
Curriculum: Social Studies
Classroom Use: This book would be used to emphasize the destruction of racisom and as a resource during the study of the Civil Rights Movement and school integration.
Author Credibility: This is the story of this time in Ruby Bridges' life so it would be hard to determine what she actually remembers and what she has been told. She does a wonderful job of pointing out what she is unsure about or what she was told but there is still some question as to what is actual memories of the time.
Awards: NCTE Orbis Pictus Award, NCSS Carter G. Woodson Book Award, Parent's Choice Gold Award
Standards: Social Studies: Standard 2-Time, Continuity, and Change; Standard 4-Individual Development, and Individuality; Standard 6-Power, Authority, and Governance
Related Texts: Remember: the Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison; The School is Not White by Doreen Rappaport

Response:
This book was an easy read. The writing was simplistic, almost childlike. The hardest element of this book was the pictures and seeing what it was like for the children during this time. The phrase "a picture's worth a thousand words" is defined by this book. This heartwrenching story shoud be a must read in every classroom.