August 30, 1999
With Robert Coles's 1995 picture book, The Story of Ruby Bridges, and a Disney television movie, readers may feel they already know all about Bridges, who in 1960 was the first black child to attend a New Orleans public elementary school. But the account she gives here is freshly riveting. With heartbreaking understatement, she gives voice to her six-year-old self. Escorted on her first day by U.S. marshals, young Ruby was met by throngs of virulent protesters ("I thought maybe it was Mardi Gras... Mardi Gras was always noisy," she remembers). Her prose stays unnervingly true to the perspective of a child: "The policeman at the door and the crowd behind us made me think this was an important place. It must be college, I thought to myself." Inside, conditions were just as strange, if not as threatening. Ruby was kept in her own classroom, receiving one-on-one instruction from teacher Barbara Henry, a recent transplant from Boston. Sidebars containing statements from Henry and Bridges's mother, or excerpts from newspaper accounts and John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, provide information and perspectives unavailable to Bridges as a child. As the year went on, Henry accidentally discovered the presence of other first graders, and she had to force the principal to send them into her classroom for part of the day (the principal refused to make the other white teachers educate a black child). Ironically, it was only when one of these children refused to play with Ruby ("My mama said not to because you're a nigger") that Ruby realized that "everything had happened because I was black.... It was all about the color of my skin." Sepia-toned period photographs join the sidebars in rounding out Bridges's account. But Bridges's words, recalling a child's innocence and trust, are more vivid than even the best of the photos. Like poetry or prayer, they melt the heart. Ages 8-12.
March 1, 2021
Gr 4-7-In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges was the only Black child to integrate William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana. She spent the entire school year as the lone student in her first grade classroom, as the majority of other students in the school stopped coming as soon as she arrived. This is Bridges's story about that year, in her own words, and the impact it had on her life. Interspersed are newspaper article quotes from the time and quotes from the people surrounding her. The text is narrated by Bridges, while the quotes are voiced by Ron Butler and Robin Miles, and original music is used to connect each section. A note at the beginning discusses how the 1999 text is presented in its entirety including the harmful language that Bridges heard. Included at the end is a 2020 interview with her on the Scholastics Reads podcast, catching listeners up with what she is doing now. VERDICT This is a beautifully done audiobook for any collection. Pair it with the print book to get the full impact of the pictures while Bridges tells her story.-Elizabeth Elsbree, Krug Elem. Sch., Aurora, IL
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