Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks: From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a Movement is a biography written by Camilla Wilson for Scholastic Incorporated. This biography was written for students who read at the fouth grade level. Ms. Wilson did a fantastic job researching the life of Rosa Parks and sharing it with her young readers. The bulk of the 73 pages were spent on Rosa Parks earlier days in Montgomery. Early in her life, Rosa was involved with equal rights. This biography takes the reader through her yearly days and reveals the strong, determined woman behind the Montgomery bus boycott.

MY TWO CENTS:
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. This was a journey into the life of Rosa Parks in the years before the Montgomery bus boycott. I enjoy these types of biographies because they tend to give the reader a picture of the individual's life before they became well known. Rosa Parks did not live a simple and easy life. Her life was filled with pain, suffering, and fear. However, her life was also filled with determination, focus, and compassion. The one thing that struck me the most as I read this biography was Rosa Parks' work ethic. Rosa Parks worked a full-time job as a seamstress, answered phones on her hour lunch break, and participated in a number of politically related organizations after work (i.e. she would type, take notes, contact people, organize the meetings, etc...). When the day was done, she would go home and start all over again. In addition to her work as a seamstress and her volunteer work, she also had to take care of her husband and her parents. I practically buckle thinking about all the responsibilities Rosa Parks had on her shoulders, yet, she carried on. I am thankful she did not give up. I am thankful she did not get out of her seat on the bus. I am thankful she found the energy to carry on. Rosa Parks is a person to be admired and emulated in many ways. All people should be treated equally and there is no one race more superior than another. We all need to eat, we all need to sleep, we all bleed, we all breath, we all love, we all want a better life for our children. Although Rosa Parks took a seat, she stood for all.