9/8/2014
This is a fabulous work blending fiction and non fiction that uses a documentary style including newspaper articles, photos, artwork, music and slogans of the time. It tells a fictional story about the 1964 Freedom Summer when scores of northern volunteers went to Mississippi to help black citizens register to vote. It uses the fictional story to paint a picture for us of what it must have been like for people, especially kids living and growing up during incredible turmoil. A time when political/historical events changed the lives and hearts of people that my generation can still remember. Fascinating, compelling and so well done…it grabs you heart, mind and soul. I hope all middle school kids will have a chance to read it and that they will read it with other people who they can really talk with about it. I’ll be reading Countdown, her first book…can’t believe I’ve waited so long! An added local bonus is that there is a nice “thank you” to Sarah Corson and Dick Atlee.