With the Might of Angels by Andrea Pinkney - ESSENTIAL

Pinkney, Andrea Davis With the Might of Angels: The diary of Dawnie Rae Johnson, Hadley, Virginia, 1954.  302 p. $13.  When Brown vs The Board of Education ends segregation in public schools, Dawnie is the only black student to enroll in Prettyman Coburn, the local white school.  Most everyone is determined to keep Dawnie, and every other black person in the community, in her place, strewing obstacles in her way.  Only a few kind people are willing to reach out, including Gertie Feldman, who is also Dawnie’s rival for the coveted job of school bell ringer.  Dawnie must endure all kinds of slights, taunts and slurs in her first year.  Pinkney has done an excellent job of showing the stressful situations those first brave students went through, without devolving into an angry tirade.  Our own imaginations can supply the words, thank you.  I am so glad that Scholastic is adding more books to the Dear America series and reprinting the older titles.  EL, MS – ESSENTIAL. Cindy, Library Teacher.