Shelia P. Moses

Rufus and his family live in Birmingham. His mom is a widow who is being courted by Paul. Paul becomes Daddy Paul to Rufus and his younger sister Georgia. The family is living in Birmingham in 1963. When an opportunity comes for them to move to an all white neighborhood on the land of the woman who owns the town mine. She's a white woman from Boston and has her own ideas about race relations that don't fit with those of others in the town.
The kids want to get involved with the Children's Crusade that is happening as Martin Luther King Jr comes to town and works with Fred Shuttlesworth to lead some Civil Rights actions. His mom is at first fearful of his involvement, but the whole family gets involved despite risks of arrest. The stakes seem to high for them not to.
A quick, accessible read centered around the protest events in Birmingham in spring 1963.… (meer)

An African American tween finds a way to contribute to his community’s struggle for an end to segregation.

Eleven-year-old Rufus Jackson Jones Jr. lives in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Following the death of his father, his mother struggles to provide for their family. Life improves when his mother marries Paul Joe Peele. Daddy Paul, as Rufus and his sister call him, insists that they find a better home than their run-down house. So the family rents a home on the property of Miss Boone, the owner of the mill that employs most of the town—a move that angers some White people in the community, as the other families living on the property are mostly White. The civil rights movement is a major topic of conversation for young and old alike, and Rufus wants to learn all he can. Plans for a march involving Dr. Martin Luther King and the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth are in the works, and for the first time, students will march. The first marches result in jail for many but continue to grow until the protestors face police dogs and fire hoses. Moses takes readers inside the movement that saw its youngest become effective challengers to the segregation status quo. Her narrative seamlessly weaves a personal family story with the larger one of the fight for change. Rufus is an engaging, thoughtful narrator whose voice and perspective ring true as he works to make a difference, even disobeying his mother, who is terrified about what might happen. The love and determination of his community are realistically and richly portrayed.

A stirring, cleareyed look at the young people who risked much for social change as they fought for their civil rights. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 9-12)

-Kirkus Review… (meer)

Sallie Gal is a story based on a story of a young girl who works hard everyday and begins to work harder throughout the story because she wants to have some pretty ribbons just like her cousin Wild Cat. The Wall-a-kee Man,a man who drives a station wagon and owns The Wallace Company, visits Sallie Gal's house every Saturday to sell goods to Sallie Gal's mother. Sallie Gal finds out that the Wall-a-kee Man has a whole case of pretty ribbons, and Sallie tells him that her goal is to work hard so she can buy them. Although the Wall-a-kee man offers to give Sallie Gal some ribbons for free Sallie Gal's mother always told her to never accept charity. After a while, The Wall-a-kee man gives Sallie Gal some ribbons anyway but she begins to feel guilty and gives them back. In the end, Sallie works hard to earn her own money and is able to buy her own ribbons and she learned a life lesson- always work hard for what you receive! Although throughout the story i wondered why Sallie's mother didn't give her a break, towards the end i began to understand the lesson she was trying to teach Sallie. Sallie's mother worked hard for everything she earned, and her goal was to steer her daughter into the same direction so she would be able to take care of herself one day. Although i thought i wouldn't have a connection with the book due to not being able to put myself in the characters position, i was still able to take a life lesson of my own from the story. Sometimes in life when we work hard for what we want, the outcome will be much more rewarding rather than getting something for free.… (meer)