From Kirkus: "Encapsulates the bravery, intrigue, and compassion that defined a generation, presenting a history that everyone should know: required and inspired."

This book is based on real people and real events. Author Alice Faye Duncan tells a fictionized perspective of the sanitation strike preceding Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination told from the perspective of a 9-year-old little girl. Her father, a sanitation worker, participated in a protest. In the historical event, King calls for economic action, boycotting, and and nonviolent protest to challenge the United States. This illustrated novel gives students and young readers a look into what fighting for civil rights was like during King's era in 1968. ( )

Fifty years on, readers reminisce with a young black girl who recalls how black sanitation workers launched a movement for equal rights and safer working conditions and stayed committed to justice amid tragic loss.

Basing her story on the true accounts of Dr. Almella Starks-Umoja, Duncan creates 9-year-old Lorraine Jackson to tell the full story of the Memphis sanitation strike of 1968. The story begins not with the entrance of Martin Luther King, who would arrive in March, but in January, when the tragic deaths of two black garbagemen due to old, malfunctioning equipment added to calls for change. The author’s choice to not focus on the singular efforts of King but on the dedicated efforts of community signals a deeply important lesson for young readers. Strong historical details back up the organizing feat: “In the morning and afternoon, for sixty-five days, sanitation workers marched fourteen blocks through the streets of downtown Memphis.” The narrative is set in vignettes that jump between verse and prose, set against Christie’s bold paintings. Lorraine learns that “Dreamers never quit” after reminiscing on what would be Dr. King’s final lecture, delivered on April 3. The struggle doesn’t end with King’s death but continues with the spotlight cast by Coretta Scott King on the sanitation workers’ demands. “Freedom is never free,” Lorraine notes before closing with the thought that it remains our mission to “Climb up the MOUNTAINTOP!”

Encapsulates the bravery, intrigue, and compassion that defined a generation, presenting a history that everyone should know: required and inspired. (Picture book. 9-12)

-Kirkus Review

In this story of a children's perspective of one of the most crucial times in civil rights history, this story is a must-have in all classrooms. When a story is told from the perspective of a child, certain larger-scale topics are easier to understand. The language itself in this story is perfect for intermediate readers, but the content is something that anyone can grasp. In my future classrooms, this is a novel that I definitely plan on including.

This story is told through the perspective of a women who marched in the Memphis Sanitation Strike as a child. This story follows Lorraine Jackson as her family participated through the strike for better an equal pay. It's a fairly easy read for middle schoolers although fith graders could read it. The story and themes are quite heavy and deep and whoever reads it needs to at an appropriate age to fully comprehend what is happening. I would definitely use this in the classroom because of how it is written and the illustrations. ( )