So, this may sound strange but as I look over the first page again I’m reminded. Why did Audrey call Martin Luther King, Jr. Mike?! I checked and it’s not mentioned in the author’s note. But it’s a lingering question that remains in my brain. Was it to disguise him from others, so she wouldn’t mention he was at their house? Or, did she just mispronounce his name because she was young? Cynthia Levinson writes it was his nickname. But why? Clearly, this one nugget is not what I should be focused on. And yet.
Audrey Faye Hicks’ story is an admirable one and a story worth telling and sharing. The concept to fill the jails is certainly an interesting strategy and one that paid off in the end. Once the jails were filled, they had nowhere to put people who would have, days before been arrested just for walking into a certain story or sitting at a lunch counter. Many of the other “young” marchers were in high school, so Audrey was for all intents and purposes on her own inside jail. What a frightening ordeal and yet, she came out stronger knowing she had made a difference. Cynthia Levinson’s writing helps all of us, young and old, see how we might make a difference too and Vanessa Brantley Newton’s illustrations paint a pretty tough topic in bright tones bringing joy to the overall message of the cause.
Title: The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a young Civil Rights Activist
Author: Cynthia Levinson
Illustrator: Vanessa Brantley Newton
Published 2017 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0070-1
This book was borrowed from the public library for review purposes.
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