If You Were a Kid During the Civil Rights Movement

by Gwendolyn Hooks

Follow along with two girls as they find themselves in the middle of a civil rights demonstration, and find out how the fight for equality changed the country forever.
Joyce Jenkins has recently moved to a new town with her family, and she will soon be attending a segregated school for the first time. Meanwhile, Connie Underwood is trying to figure out what her twin brothers are planning in secret. Readers (Ages 7-9) will follow along with the two girls as they find themselves in the middle of a civil rights demonstration, and find out how the fight for equality changed the country forever.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Picture Books, Reference, Childrens, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2017

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Gwendolyn Hooks was born in Savannah, Georgia, and lived in Texas, Washington, and Italy thanks to her Air Force dad. She earned a degree in secondary math education from the University of Missouri in St. Louis. After teaching middle school math, Gwendolyn decided to follow her new passion, writing for children. She loves visiting schools and libraries sharing her writing life with students. For inspiration, she turns to her husband, three kids and a cat.

Reviews

[Tamika McIntosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be considered historical fiction. It is about a young girl worrying about what her twin brothers are doing secretively. She hears them talk about boycotts and sit-ins. One day her and her new friend sneak off to spy on her brothers on a march. When she hears the police are coming, her and her friend run off to tell her mother what her brothers are up to. Her mother is only mad that her brothers did not ask for permission, so there would be a lesser risk of them being arrested. The next time they had paper work to be allowed to march, and they did so as a family. In this book, I liked the historical side notes on each page explaining various events in the civil rights movement. In addition, for young children, it was great that vocabulary words were written in red. It is a simple story with facts written throughout.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This one is hard to review because I want kids to have approachable books about the Civil Rights movement. The art is kid-friendly and does not look intimidating the way some books on the subject so. But I think in trying to be kid-friendly, it makes the Civil Rights movement sound much easier and more peaceful and with fewer repercussions for those who demonstrated or participated in various acts of civil disobedience, particularly Black people who did those things. This could be good as the start of a discussion, but just a start. The older generations were spoon-fed an edited version of history about Civil Rights and learned in school how racism is a thing of the past, and we can and should do better than that now.

[Shari (Shira) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is from Scholastic's new series, "If You Were a Kid..."It is well-intentioned, however it tries to squeeze too much into a 32 page hybrid (narrative & informational) book. Characters are introduced and then abandoned (Robbie and Tommie). The story abruptly ends with a happy ending. How many happy endings were there in the civil rights movement? The artwork is substandard. However, I do like the sidebars and other informational text features (timeline, glossary, index). It's a good idea. I hope the other books in the series are better.

[Kim Stock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Offers both a story and fact boxes to help break down the civil rights movement. Excellent resource for kids!

[Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you were a kid during the Civil Rights Movement by Connie Underwood and Mark Jenkins is a great early reader historical fiction story. The story begins with a description of the civil rights movement in a way that children are able to understand. This story tells about two black kids, Connie and Mark, who recently became neighbors. The two children come together to uncover the mystery of the so called “Civil Rights Movement”. Along the way they learn many things about the Civil Rights Movement and what it means. I think that this book does a great job of using a story to explain to children what the movement is and how it affects children of different color. This book has diversity and gives a historical lesson. It has great pictures and uses facts and maps to help guide children along with the story. I would recommend this story to all children aged 7-10 years old. The story uses more advanced words but has a description of each word at the end of the story which I thought would be very helpful for children.

[︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ Steph ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book while looking for material on U.S. Civil Rights for my Chinese middle schoolers. The language is easy enough for kids and ESL learners to understand, and the factoids on the left side bar are informative - touching on such topics as the role of television, organized demonstrations, and the Green Book. This book does, overall, gloss over the urgency and violence of the segregated south (did most sit-ins and marches receive permits like the mom suggests?). I'd say it's a good starting point for deeper historical race related discussions with kids. There's a lot of information to connect to today. On a side note, I felt the character of Mark was a nice surprise (shoutout to fellow airforce brat representation!).

[Sierra Kemme]

"If you were a kid during the Civil Rights Movement" begins with a description of the civil rights movement in a way that young children are able to understand. Its story tells about two African American kids who recently became neighbors. The two children come together to uncover the mystery of the so-called “Civil Rights Movement”. Along the way, they learn many things about the Civil Rights Movement and what it means. I think that this book does a great job of using a story to explain to children what the movement is and how it affects children of different colors. I would use this book in my classroom because it has diversity and gives a history lesson. I think it would be a good book to have in my classroom because it shows the civil rights movement from a colored childs view.

[Yoselin Castillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I stumbled upon these "If you were a kid" books! I first found this book at my local library and I loved it so much I ordered a set of these books for my future classroom! I like that it has a story line (that is easy to follow) that takes place during a specific time in history. It introduces the reader to new vocabulary words and provides the definitions in the back of the book along with a time line of the events that were portrayed in the book along with a map of where the story took place! Very informative and useful to teach the students about historical periods and expose them to new vocabulary words!

[Tori Crews]

This book is a wonderful introduction to an important period in American history. This book tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of children who lived during that time. This helps younger readers to better understand the struggles and triumphs of the pivotal moment in our nation's history. I love how this book bridges the gap between the past and the present and shows ho the issues of the civil rights movement still resonate today. This book has engaging illustrations that bring the story to life, making it an enjoyable and informative book for children and adults to read.

[Ameya Warde · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book for my 7 year old. It was upsetting, but important. We've talked about all the issues in here before, but this format really just tied it together for him. I very much appreciate having an book that talks about the heavy things in an age appropriate manner without glossing over the the fact that very awful things did, and do, happen. We had a particularly emotional conversation about the photograph of the police officers attacking the peaceful black protestor on the Capitol steps.

[Kelsey Nunez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a great book for children to read to learn a little about the civil rights movement. I think it makes it easier understand for younger children, grades 1-3. It is also a great way to keep their attention. This book is all about children growing up during the civil rights movement and their view on the whole thing. What I also love about this book is that they have little articles on the top of the pages on what actual happened during the time they are referring too. Over all I enjoyed reading this book and think it is a great book for children.

[Kristen Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This children’s book is a perfect blend of fiction and nonfiction, which teaches key actions and moments during the Civil Rights Movement, like “sit-ins,” Rosa Parks, and Ruby Bridges. Whilst reading, my six-year old son said things like, “that’s stupid that a person went to jail because she wouldn’t give someone a seat on the bus.” “Yes,” I agreed and made sure he understood just HOW extremely “stupid” people can be when spreading hate and racism.

[Zandalee Fowler]

This story is about teaching kids about segregation and the way black and whites were separated. Two students are attending school in Oklahoma and are learning about the civil rights and segregation. Mark moved from New York and where blacks and whites went to school together. When moving to school the whites and blacks were segregated. The worked together to learn the changed going on through books, protests, and so much more.

[Emily Foley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historical fiction story is one of my favorites from the semester. Personally, I love "bubbly" illustrations, which is how I would describe the pictures in this story. Additionally, the story is very fun and engaging, and also very informational. It tells the tale of two children who experience time in the Civil Rights movement, and they share their experiences. I feel that this book is great to show young kids to introduce them to the events that occurred at this time in history.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

the genre for this book is historical fiction. the grade this book is recommended for is 1st to 3rd grade. this book is about two kids talking about what it is like for them during the civil right movement. they talked about the regrated schools and other places they could not go because of there being whites only allowed in some places. i gave this book a five star because it had great color. the illustrations really went well with the words in the book.

[Dylan Schulze · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a example that can be used for learning about the civil rights movement. This is a student-friendly book to show what the civil rights movement was and how equality was gained at the end. This boo kalso has boxes off to the side of the pages that have facts about the civil rights movement.

[Maddie Mcdermott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a great book for the classroom. It is about a family who moves to a new town and the kids go to a new school. At this school, they are faced with a civil rights movement. They try to figure out ways to fight for equality. This is a perfect demonstration of how to teach about the civil rights movement at a young age.

[Kaitlyn Papp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade: 2-3
I loved the style of this book! Very easy to follow along and learn about the history of the Civil Rights Movement. The characterization and illustrations allow for a young reader to jump right into the story and be a part of history. I think that the colors and cartoon style of drawing is super cute and fun to look at while reading a book full of knowledge.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding fictional story about an African American family that's augmented with historical info boxes. Points for the story taking place out of the south, authentic use of The Green Book, and boy and a girl as head characters.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great elementary and up book about two new neighbors in Oklahoma during the civil rights movement who are learning about protests, sit ins and other things of the times. story alternates with nonfiction facts.

[Ethan Thao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copyright 2017, Genre: Historical fiction, Theme: Civil Rights, This book shows the about what was going on during the civil rights for kids. I would use this in a classroom to talk about what happen during the civil rights era.

[Alexis Munoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historical fiction book introduces events in America’s history through the eyes of two children in Oklahoma who are learning about protests, sit-ins, and everything else happening during this time. The story also is complete with a variety of nonfiction facts.

[Sam VanLoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story combines historical information into a novel to teach kids about the civil rights movement. The reader feels like they are in the story and can empathize with the characters.

Trait: Voice
ATOS: 4.4
Lex: 700

[Miss Schuman's Class]

October: Social Studies
Hello, Families! This month in Social Studies we will be beginning our conversation about the Civil Rights Movement and important people from that iconic movement.
Happy Reading!

[Sara Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told in a way that helps kids imagine what it was like to live through real moments of bravery and hope. It balances tough truths with inspiration, reminding readers that even young voices can help move the world forward.

[Faith Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the "If You Were a Kid During..." books they really put in perspective what it was like at certain time periods.

[Emily Isom · Rating 5 out of 5]

When teaching or learning about the Civil Rights movement I would recommend reading this book! This was an adorable book!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good look at the Civil Rights movement form a child's perspective but it is a bit too advanced for K. A gift from Leslie at JHMS.

Q2021 book.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stella loved this one. We need to try others in the series.

[T-Rex Slash · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok I learned history .I recommend this book.