Nonfiction review: THE REBELLIOUS LIFE OF MRS. ROSA PARKS (Young Reader's Edition)

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeane Theoharis was first published in 2013 as an adult book. The book jacket notes said this about the reason for writing another book about Rosa Parks: "Presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks as the quiet seamstress who, with a single act, birthed the modern civil rights movement, Theoharis provides a revealing window into Parks’s politics and years of activism."  In 2021 when this young reader's edition was published, the project had expanded a bit since some of Mrs. Parks papers had become available and the new information was added. With Brandy Colbert co-writing the text aimed at young adult readers, Mrs. Parks' full story comes to life.

Having read a few books recently about different aspects of the Civil Rights Movement, it didn't surprise me that Mrs. Rosa Parks was much more involved in it than just sitting in the 'whites only' portion of a bus and getting arrested for it, as if by accident. What did surprise me was the depth of her involvement before and after the bus event. The book reads like a history of the movement from start to now, with the focus on Mrs. Parks and her involvement. A reader of this book would bet a good overview not only of what was happening in the South during those tumultuous days in the 1950s and 60s but also what was happening in the North, specifically the Detroit area, since that is where Mrs. Rosa Parks and her husband moved after they were unable to get any jobs in Montgomery after she was arrested. Mrs. Parks went on standing up for civil rights throughout her life, even when people wanted to diminish her contributions along the way.

What I liked about the book:

• It gives a full overview of the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes and the actions of Mrs. Rosa Parks. 
  
• The book addressed the often dismissed contributions of many other women in the movement, as well. Though it did mention the famous men attached to the movement, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., it pointed out ways that the men of the movement seemingly on purpose, pushed the women aside. That was news to me.
• The writing and research was impeccable. 

What I didn't like about the book:

• The book is long, or seemingly long, at 294 pages. I wondered if teens would likely read it. Though that is probably not a fair point, since so few people are prone to pick up and read books in their entirety these days.

Reading this book filled in some holes I had in my own understanding of the Civil Rights Movement and also gave me a bigger appreciation of the contributions of Mrs. Rosa Parks. I highly recommend it for all secondary school libraries and public libraries.

-Anne