Bree can't wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees - until she's stuck with the only elective that fits her schedule: the dreaded Swim 101. The thought of swimming makes Bree more than a little queasy, yet she's forced to dive headfirst into one of her greatest fears. Lucky for her, Etta - an elderly occupant of her apartment building and former swim team captain - is willing to help. --

Presents a striking picture of the elements of contemporary public education that conspire against the prospects for poor children of color, creating a persistent gap in achievement during the school years that has eluded several decades of reform.

Most people think that the Brown vs. Board of Education decision of 1954 meant that schools were integrated with deliberate speed. But the children of Prince Edward County located in Farmville, Virginia, who were prohibited from attending formal schools for five years knew differently, including Yolanda. Told by Yolanda Gladden herself, cowritten by Dr. Tamara Pizzoli and with illustrations by Keisha Morris, When the Schools Shut Down is a true account...

"In 1956, one year before federal troops escorted the Little Rock 9 into Central High School, fourteen year old Jo Ann Allen was one of twelve African-American students who broke the color barrier and integrated Clinton High School in Tennessee. At first things went smoothly for the Clinton 12, but then outside agitators interfered, pitting the townspeople against one another. Uneasiness turned into anger, and even the Clinton Twelve themselves wondered...

"From the legendary civil rights activist and author of the million-copy selling Warriors Don't Cry comes a powerful, timely new memoir about growing up in the segregated South. Civil rights heroine Melba Patillo Beals puts readers right in her saddle oxfords as she struggles to understand--and fight back against--the laws that told her she was less just because of the color of her skin. Includes photos and illustrations"-- A member of the Little...

"Discusses the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, including the nine African-American students that successfully integrated the Arkansas school and the controversy and crisis surrounding the event"--Provided by publisher.

"From the daughter of one of America's most virulent segregationists, a memoir that reckons with her father George Wallace's legacy of hate -- and illuminates her journey towards redemption. Peggy Wallace Kennedy has been widely hailed as the 'symbol of racial reconciliation' (Washington Post). In the summer of 1963, though, she was just a young girl watching her father stand in a schoolhouse door as he tried to block two African-American students...