The Voting Rights Act of 1965 : An Interactive History Adventure

by Michael Burgan

Overview

You’re a U.S. citizen, so why are you being denied your right to vote? Even after civil rights legislation passes, many minorities are still being turned away from polls. It’s not fair, and you will fight for your right to have a say in your government. Will you: • Brave violence while registering voters during the 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi? • Witness brutality as you protest in the 1965 Selma March? • Join the Chicano Movement to secure voting rights for Hispanic immigrants? When YOU CHOOSE, history gets real.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781491418055
Publisher:	Capstone Pr Inc
Publication date:	01/01/2015
Series:	You Choose: History Series
Sales rank:	424,126
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.30(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Michael Burgan has written numerous books for children and young adults during his nearly 20 years as a freelance writer. Many of his books have focused on U.S. history, geography, and the lives of world leaders. He has also written fiction and adapted classic novels. Michael has won several awards for his writing, and his graphic novel version of the classic tale Frankenstein (Stone Arch Books) was a Junior Library Guild selection. Michael has also worked as an editor at Weekly Reader, the classroom news magazine used in schools across the United States. Michael graduated from the University of Connecticut with a bachelor’s degree in history. When not writing for kids, he enjoys writing plays, and his works have been staged across the United States. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his cat, Callie.

Editorial Reviews

Three interactive story lines are used to illustrate the events surrounding the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Before the first chapter, which describes the protests, mostly in the south, against poll taxes, literacy tests, and other barriers used to keep black citizens from voting, readers are introduced to the methods that will take them through the book. The reader is placed in the midst of the turmoil and asked to choose one of three story paths to follow. In the first, the reader will be a black female volunteer in 1964; in the second, a white civil rights marcher in Selma in 1965; in the third, a Mexican-American teen focused on Hispanic voting rights in 1970. As readers follow their chosen paths, they come to additional choice points. The volunteer, for example, must choose whether to register voters or teach at a Freedom School. If she chooses to teach, she must then choose whether to go to a rural area or to the city of Vicksburg, and additional choices continue to come up along her path. The information given in the book presents the reader with a thorough picture of the issues involved, but following the paths as they branch can sometimes be confusing or frustrating. Following the text are a two-page timeline beginning in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation and ending with the Supreme Court’s striking down part of the Voting Rights Act; a set of questions designed to help readers explore additional aspects of the issue; a list of four books containing additional information; an address for useful Internet sites; a glossary, a bibliography; and an index. The book is part of the “You Choose” series. Reviewer: Judy DaPolito; Ages 8 to 12.

Children's Literature - Judy DaPolito