Claudette Colvin

National Book Award

Winner Newbery Honor Book

Robert F. Sibert Award Honor

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist

Jane Addams Children's Book Award, Honor

ALA Best Book for Young Adults

ALSC Notable Children's Book

Best Books of 2009 Lists

Washington Post
School Library Journal
Amazon.com
Booklist
Publishers Weekly

“Hoose introduces readers to a resolute and courageous
teenager.”—Starred Review, Publishers Weekly

“Encourages teens to empathize with
an age peer.”—Starred Review, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Compelling.” —Starred Review, The Horn Book

“Inspiring.” —Starred Review, Booklist

""Phil Hoose has done pioneering work in bringing to our attention the crucial role of young people in social movements." —Howard Zinn.

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

On March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and dismissed by community leaders. Undaunted, a year later she dared to challenge segregation again as a key plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the landmark case that struck down the segregation laws of Montgomery and swept away the legal underpinnings of the Jim Crow South.

Based on extensive interviews with Claudette Colvin and many others, Phillip Hoose presents the first in-depth account of an important yet largely unknown civil rights figure, skillfully weaving her dramatic story into the fabric of the historic Montgomery bus boycott and court case that would change the course of American history.