Rosa is written by Nikki Giovanni and illustrated by Bryan Collier. It was published in 2005 by Scholastic Inc. It is a biographical and informational text as it talks about Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement. It won the Coretta Scott King Award for Non-Violent Social Change in 2006.
This children’s book outlines the events surrounding Rosa Parks famous ride on a public bus. It takes you through a normal day for her and lets the reader see that she was not someone on a mission to upset everyone around her, she was just a woman riding a bus who did not want to give up her seat for a white man. The story also relates some of the other major happenings during the civil rights movement such as the march on Washington and Martin Luther King Junior’s famous speech. The illustrations in this book are what really make it a wonderful book. The pictures are made with watercolors and a collage technique. The collages are amazing because of the materials used. When it talks about Rosa working in a sewing factory, Collier uses material to make the collage. The page almost seems to be bunched in places like real fabric would be. In some of the pictures you see the capitol building in the background, reminding the reader that this story affected our government, our history and most importantly our lives today. The coolest parts of the illustrations for me were the ripple affects around Rosa and Mr. King’s heads. When one illustration shows Mr. King giving his speech there is a ripple affect coming from him that shows the picture around him but with the affect from his voice. It shows his affect on the world around him and how his words made a tangible difference in the society he lived in. The crown-like ripple around Mrs. Parks, which is shown on the front cover as well, shows her impact on history. It shows the she stuck out on the bus she was riding as someone going against the grain. The art in this story is truly beautiful. This story makes history real and interesting and shows readers who this woman was. It is no wonder that this story won the Coretta Scott King Award.
This children’s book outlines the events surrounding Rosa Parks famous ride on a public bus. It takes you through a normal day for her and lets the reader see that she was not someone on a mission to upset everyone around her, she was just a woman riding a bus who did not want to give up her seat for a white man. The story also relates some of the other major happenings during the civil rights movement such as the march on Washington and Martin Luther King Junior’s famous speech. The illustrations in this book are what really make it a wonderful book. The pictures are made with watercolors and a collage technique. The collages are amazing because of the materials used. When it talks about Rosa working in a sewing factory, Collier uses material to make the collage. The page almost seems to be bunched in places like real fabric would be. In some of the pictures you see the capitol building in the background, reminding the reader that this story affected our government, our history and most importantly our lives today. The coolest parts of the illustrations for me were the ripple affects around Rosa and Mr. King’s heads. When one illustration shows Mr. King giving his speech there is a ripple affect coming from him that shows the picture around him but with the affect from his voice. It shows his affect on the world around him and how his words made a tangible difference in the society he lived in. The crown-like ripple around Mrs. Parks, which is shown on the front cover as well, shows her impact on history. It shows the she stuck out on the bus she was riding as someone going against the grain. The art in this story is truly beautiful. This story makes history real and interesting and shows readers who this woman was. It is no wonder that this story won the Coretta Scott King Award.
Here is Bryan Collier's website for more about his artwork.
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