This Is the Dream (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: This Is the Dream Deborah Stevenson Shore, Diane Z . This Is the Dream; by Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander; illus. by James Ransome. Amistad/HarperCollins, 2006 [40p] Library ed. ISBN 0-06-055520-3$16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-055519-X$15.99 Reviewed from galleys R 5-8 yrs This succinct poetic history of the civil rights movement begins with a survey of prominent aspects of segregation (separate water fountains, separate seats on the bus and in restaurants, separate sections in libraries and separate schools), then describes key actions of resistance (integrating schools, boycotting buses, sitting at lunch counters); finally, it depicts the results of the battle, a present where people can sit in restaurants, on buses, and in libraries and schools together. The approach may sound like a recipe for purposive disaster, but the book is genuinely successful. Shore and Alexander wisely resist the robotic fidelity to the "House That Jack Built" cumulation that the first line ("These are the fountains that stand in the square") and rhymed couplets suggest, instead simply using the "these are the" formula and tight rhyme scheme as effective structuring devices. Though the poetry is a little uneven, their focus on concrete, kid-understandable discrimination and specific responses makes this an unusually accessible explanation, and they manage to give credit both to the leaders and the foot soldiers in the movement. Ransome's double-page portraiture employs his familiar thickly pigmented brushstrokes and smooth, three-dimensional modeling (red, white, and blue runs as a subtle motif throughout), with images subtly reminding viewers that it often wasn't just a case of "separate" but also "inferior." In some spreads, he augments his painterly images with period photographs, often running in strips of collage across the top of the page that balance out the text boxes along the bottom; the dramatic turning point visually counterpoints his portraits of four key leaders against a photographic backdrop of teeming marchers and activists, paralleling the text's embrace of contributors unknown as well as known. This takes a tough subject for youthful understanding and distills it into a clear and compelling narrative, making it a valuable tool for [End Page 285] curricular use; pair it with an early biography such as Rappaport's Martin's Big Words (BCCB 1/02) to balance out the broader view with an individual story. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois