Busing Brewster

May 3, 2010
Michelson (As Good As Anybody) provides an immediate, child’s-eye view of court-ordered busing in the 1970s. First-grader Brewster and his older brother, Bryan, are bused to Central, “the white school,” an hour away. Brewster is heartened by his mother’s comment that the school has a pool and a library—“I don’t know how to read, or how to swim. But I’m glad Mama’s happy”—but nervous, too. In a trenchant scene, Brewster asks Bryan what roadside protestors’ “whites only” signs say, to which he responds, “Welcome to Central”—just before a rock crashes through the bus window. After a scuffle lands the brothers (and a white boy Bryan befriends) in the school library for detention, Brewster tells the librarian, “Mama hopes I’ll be president,” and she replies, “So we’d better begin by teaching you how to read.” Using soft earth tones, Roth’s (This Jazz Man) stylized mixed media images are an amalgam of angular characters, geometric shapes, and patterned fabrics that feel like an artful interpretation of the era’s cartoons. They readily underscore the collision of innocence and prejudice, anger and hope. Ages 6–10.

June 1, 2010
Gr 1-5 Gr 1-5-One fall, two African-American brothers learn that they will be bused to a predominantly white school. While Bryan complains ("Ain't no Negroes at Central"), Mama reassures first-grader Brewster that they will benefit from the new school's fine facilities, such as a well-stocked library. Mama says that with such advantages, Brewster might even be president someday. However, angry whites gather at the school in protest, creating chaos inside and out. Brewster, Bryan, and others are sent to the library for detention in the melee. There they find a friendly librarian who encourages them to dream. The book effectively captures both the promises and the challenges of school integration in the 1970s. Roth's rich earth tones and bold patterns perfectly anchor the book in its era, while the mixed-media and collage illustrations convey the urban environment. The text also stays true to its historical period, using the word "Negro" instead of "African American." This provides an opportunity for adults to explain how and why language evolves as society changes. An author's note provides a factual overview of this era. Michelson also explains here that he wrote the story long before Barack Obama was elected president, and that he never expected such a historic event to become a reality in his lifetime."Mary Landrum, Lexington Public Library, KY"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2010
Grades 1-3 When Brewster starts first grade, in the 1970s, Mama is pleased that he and his older brother, Bryan, will be bused to the white school across town. Maybe youll be president someday, she tells Brewster, but Bryan wants to stay in the neighborhood with his black friends. Outside their new school, the brothers bus is met by angry white adults, who demonstrate with posters, jeers, and rocks. Once inside, the boys get into more trouble and spend the day in detention with a white kid Bryan calls Freckle-face. Things begin to turn around, though. When a kind, lively librarian gives Brewster an exciting book, Bryan and Freckle-face bond. The expressive body language in the understated ink, watercolor, and collage illustrations contrasts the white parents hostility with the boys gradual coming together. In an appended authors note, Michelson fills in background history about public-school integration and quotes a 2005 speech that then senator Obama delivered at an American Library Association conference.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)