This nonfiction texts features pictures, unlike most of the other books I chose which have illustrations/drawings. This text is purely nonfiction. Whereas some of the other texts in my text set are historical fiction, this gives actual biographies of leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. This text is on the more difficult end (around 5th to 6th grade level), but I still put it in my 3rd grade level text set because I think students would be able to understand it if it were part of a unit with the other books in my set. I also thought it would be good to pick a text that is not written in the narrative style to expose my students to multiple styles of writing.
This book starts out with a timeline of important civil rights events spanning from 1954 to 1968. Then it goes on to give pictures of many influential leaders and members of the civil rights movement. The book is detailed and in depth about each persons lives and their part in the movement. It also lists some of the victims of this violent point in time, showing how important they also were. It was informative and not at all boring. It captivated me how cruel the past was and how far we as a county have come from that bleak part of our history.