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Walking to the Bus-Rider Blues
"Oh, I'm singing the bus-rider blues,
the Alabamy bus-rider blues.
I got me a feeling, deep down inside,
It ain't never ever gonna be the same."
During the Alabama bus boycott, six months after Rosa Parks made her famous bus protest, Alfa Merryfield and his family struggle to pay the rent. But someone keeps stealing their rent money -- and now someone is accusing them
...morePaperback, 160 pages
Published
January 1st 2002
by Aladdin
(first published 2000)
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This is excellent. Alfa is a 6th grader in 1956 Montgomery, Alabama. Alfa lives with his 15 year old sister Zinnia and their great-grandmother "Big Mama". They live in 2 room tar paper shack and need to find another 10 dollars for their rent. Alfa and his family are accused of stealing money from a "wealthy" white doctor's home. This book depicts quite realistically life for an African-American family during the 1950's. The bus boycott is 6 months old. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr has just become p...more
I liked this book.
Set against the backdrop of Alabama in 1956 during the bus boycott, it provides an engaging way to garner a deep understanding of historic events. The reality of living in those times and the impact of Rosa Parks actions is experienced vicariously through the protagonists.
It is the story of two black children, Alfa, and his sister, Zinnia, who live with their aging grandmother, Big Mama. They all have to work to get by, but their rent money keeps disappearing. When they are a...more
Set against the backdrop of Alabama in 1956 during the bus boycott, it provides an engaging way to garner a deep understanding of historic events. The reality of living in those times and the impact of Rosa Parks actions is experienced vicariously through the protagonists.
It is the story of two black children, Alfa, and his sister, Zinnia, who live with their aging grandmother, Big Mama. They all have to work to get by, but their rent money keeps disappearing. When they are a...more
This civil rights themed book uses easy language that tries to do everything a good historic fiction book should do plus a bit of mystery built in. Robinet puts you in the middle of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956. The reader is able to see, hear, and feel what it might have been like to be an African American preteen during this time. Young readers will learn why boycotting was difficult for people. Readers also get brief sideline view of famous leaders like King and Abernathy in the context...more
The book takes place one week in June during the Birmingham bus boycott of 1956. The narrator is a boy on the cusp of becoming a teenager. The story is written as a mystery; and while the story is not all that interesting, rather simplistic actually, the author does a good job of explaining how segregation was experienced by whites and blacks. Further, the author, through the characters displays how the boycott changed how blacks thought of themselves. Some of the characters, particularly the sh...more
Short & Sweet: Alfa lives with his sister Zinnia and grandmother in Alabama during the bus boycott and are always struggling to pay their rent money. Someone keeps stealing part of their hidden rent money and they must find out who it is before the rent is due. When they go to clean a house with their grandmother, they are accused of stealing two thousand dollars and must find who did it so they can get their pay before their rent is due. I loved the pace of this book and the intriguing mys...more
This story takes place six months after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white person in Montgomery Alabama. It tells a story about a twelve year old boy, Alfa, he and his sister live with their great grandmother in a shack with plently of money issues. Alfa and his family joined the boycott in not taking the buses and instead walking everywhere, which makes their long hard day even longer. This book gives a pretty good sense of how African Americans were treated in the sout...more
Interesting story about Alabama in the summer of 1956 during the bus boycott after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white person. Yes, it was a quick read, but it was also an informative read with a glimpse into the struggle of African Americans.
Looking forward to a Skype visit with the author for Walker School's Battle of the Books teams
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Jun 11, 2009
Ehbluemle Bluemle
added it
Walking to the Bus-Rider Blues by Harriette Gillem Robinet (2002)
Good story, a little boring at times but overall it was good
Couldn't finish it. Too damn boring.
Mar 26, 2010
Robin
added it
Racial Prejudice Unit
it was ok but i lke the title
Feb 28, 2009
Nivetha
added it
Really good
more of a 2.5
I started this book a while ago. Then it got boxed and was only recently found.
I liked the characters of the book and how they applied the scientific process to solving their problems... but I didn't like the ending... and maybe I wasn't supposed to. No one acknockledged any wrongdoing; no on apologized; no "real" happy ending was in sight.
I will still recommend this book to my students as they study the Civil Rights Movement.
I liked the characters of the book and how they applied the scientific process to solving their problems... but I didn't like the ending... and maybe I wasn't supposed to. No one acknockledged any wrongdoing; no on apologized; no "real" happy ending was in sight.
I will still recommend this book to my students as they study the Civil Rights Movement.
Its about kids our age in the 50's or 60's back when slavery was going on. I learned that its not where you've been but where you're going. A lot of people look at the past and dwell on that and let it hold them back but you have to know that you have to go forward in life.
Sep 03, 2007
Krista the Krazy Kataloguer
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
read-childrens-books,
read-historical-fiction
Experience what it was like for a boy to be living in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956 during the bus boycott.
We read this book in class.I like fell asleep EVERYDAY we read it
May 06, 2013
Kiara Roberts
marked it as to-read
Apr 28, 2013
Mrkileff
marked it as to-read
Apr 11, 2013
Andrea Malcolm
added it
Apr 09, 2013
Isaac Francois
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Apr 03, 2013
Kristia
marked it as to-read
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