Blood Brother

July 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-In a masterly demonstration of scholarly research and nonfiction writing, the Wallaces have crafted a powerful biographical narrative of civil rights activist Jonathan Daniels. Daniels traveled to Alabama in 1965 to participate in the Selma to Montgomery March, and he stayed on to become a part of the African American community there. Daniels worked alongside Stokely Carmichael, John Lewis, and other key activists in the civil rights struggle and ultimately lost his life in the violent aftermath of the efforts to secure voting rights for African Americans in Lowndes County. More than merely delineating the dates and places of Daniels's life and death, this work provides copious photographs, intimate interviews, and a variety of primary source documents to clearly reveal the deep South of the 1960s with all of its disparities, prejudices, terrors, and injustices. While there are many historical details in the narrative, careful annotations and thorough indexing help readers keep track of the many players and scenes in this true-life drama. The authors have created a biography that brings to light the life and legacy of a lesser-known civil rights activist. The oppression of segregation and the violent means used to maintain it are depicted in shocking detail here, making the book more appropriate for mature readers. VERDICT This visually stunning and morally significant history is highly recommended for all high school collections.-Kelly Kingrey-Edwards, Blinn Junior College, Brenham, TX

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Starred review from June 15, 2016
This powerful biography of a little-known figure underscores the fact that civil rights workers in the 1960s South knowingly put their lives on the line for the cause.Jonathan Daniels, a white seminary student from New England, traveled to Alabama in March 1965, where he participated in the Selma to Montgomery march and stayed to register voters. Aware of the danger, he took out a life insurance policy. That August, when a segregationist named Thomas Coleman fired a rifle at a teenage black protester, Daniels threw himself in front of the girl and died. To the outrage of many, a white, male jury of Coleman's friends and neighbors acquitted him. The book's opening scene creates suspense with a tense scene shortly before Daniels' death. The next chapter, about his childhood, displays Daniels' birth date followed by the ominous phrase "the first of 9,651 days." The authors deftly convey Daniels' complex personality, drawing from letters and interviews, including 18 they conducted. Numerous photographs, relatively large print, and an open design invite readers in, although the occasional page of black print against blue background can be hard to read. The compelling story concludes with an analysis of Daniels' legacy, which includes a lawsuit prompted by his murder trial that forced Alabama to include blacks and women on juries. An unusually inspiring story skillfully told. (authors' notes, timeline, bibliography, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)

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Starred review from August 1, 2016
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* Outside of his hometown (Keene, New Hampshire), the name Jonathan Daniels isn't well known, but it should be. A seminarian in 1965, when Martin Luther King Jr. sent a telegram to churches and seminaries asking for help to bear the burden of ending racial injustice in the South, Daniels, a white Northerner, answered the call. In full knowledge that his life was at risk wearing a clerical collar and pushing for integration, racial equality, and justice, he worked for voting rights in Selma and nearby Lowndes County, where he was jailed, released, and shot in front of witnesses. After his murderer was freed by a local jury, a related lawsuit ended the all-white, all-male juries of the Southern Justice System. Novelist Rich Wallace (Wrestling Sturbridge, 1996) and Sandra Neil Wallace follow up Babe Conquers the World (2014) with a thoroughly researched, meticulously documented biography that is interesting from the start but increasingly absorbing as Daniels travels south and becomes engaged in the day-to-day work of the civil rights struggle in Alabama. The many well-chosen photos show up beautifully on the large, glossy pages. The riveting story of one individual among the many working for civil rights during the 1960s.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)