Biography

The Story of Ruby Bridges

Written by: Robert Coles

Illustrated by: George Ford

Scholastic Paperbacks. 2004

32 pages

              This book is about Ruby Bridges. This book looks at a brief time in her life. This book looks at her schooling. .  I chose this story to do my biography post on because I really enjoy this book. My students in my third grade classroom also really enjoy reading about Ruby. Not every student can relate to. It tells us where she was born and where they moved too. She was just a normal little girl until she was chosen to go to a white only school. She was the first African American student to attend a white only elementary school. It tells about her struggles coming to and from school. This book also highlights a special teacher in her life. Will Ruby be able to handle the struggles placed before her? You will have to read Ruby’s story to find out.

              The Illustrations for this book are a more of a controlled abstract to me. The outer focus of the pages are more blurred. You can tell what the image is but they aren’t very distinct. It looks like he is using dark water colors with a pop of color thrown in places.

              This book is appropriate for first through third graders. This book to my knowledge has not won any awards. This book can be integrated into writing, social studies, and a humanities lesson. You can ask your students to write about how they would feel if they didn’t have any friends in their classroom all day. This will set them in a similar state of mind as Ruby. After all she was just a child, she probably didn’t understand the gravity of what was surrounding her. A social studies assignment would to research others that stood up in the turmoil like Ruby did. This could be a whole unit. You can also turn this into a humanities lesson. Showing students that we might not be the same on the outside but on the inside we are all just alike. There are many activities that can show how we are all alike on the inside.