Small Shoes, Great Strides: How Three Brave Girls Opened Doors to School Equality

by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Alex Bostic (Illustrator)

Overview

Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, and Tessie Prevost didn't set out to make history. But when these three Black first graders stepped into the all-white McDonogh No. 19 Public School in New Orleans on November 14, 1960, that's exactly what they did. They integrated their school just ten minutes before Ruby Bridges walked into her school, also in New Orleans. Like Ruby, the trio faced crowds of protestors fighting against public school desegregation efforts and relied on US Marshals to keep them safe. Their teacher protected them every step of the way, and the girls formed a close bond, becoming friends for life.

Award-winning author Vaunda Micheaux Nelson conducted extensive interviews to bring this little-known story from the Civil Rights Movement to a broad audience. Vivid illustrations by fine artist Alex Bostic highlight the girls' strength, courage, and determination.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728494081
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/07/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 9 Years

About the Author

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson is the author of The Book Itch, as well as three Coretta Scott King Award-winning books: No Crystal Stair, Bad News for Outlaws, and Almost to Freedom. She is a former youth services librarian in New Mexico. Visit her online at vaundanelson.com.
Alex Bostic is a nationally award-winning realist painter based in Mississippi. He holds a BFA in Illustration from Pratt Institute and an MA in Illustration from Syracuse University. With more than forty years of being an illustrator, Alex decided to further develop and focus on his personal work and he is now a traditional figurative artist.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/25/2023

Micheaux Nelson and Bostic’s information-packed picture book examines an overlooked story of civil rights that occurred across town from the school where Ruby Bridges would become the public face of school desegregation on Nov. 14, 1960. On the same day, New Orleans first graders Gail Etienne, Tessie Prevost, and Leona Tate entered McDonogh No. 19 Public School minutes before Bridges headed into William Frantz Elementary. The book’s well-structured format divides the three girls’ experiences into 10 sections. Via lengthy text, “Covered Windows” and “First Day” contextualize occurrences, including protestors outside their classroom, while “Miss Meyers” and “U.S. Marshals” personalize the figures who accompanied the girls throughout their school days. Art in browns, purples, and golds juxtaposes saturated portraits of the girls with sepia-tone scenes of protesters. This affirming look at “three unlikely leaders in small shoes” who “took great strides” concludes with back matter about desegregation nationwide. Ages 7–11. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"[B]rutal, enlightening, hopeful, and realistic. An important piece of history, the book is a treasure and will require classroom discussion."—starred, School Library Journal

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2024

Gr 2–4—Ten minutes before Ruby Bridges made her escorted walk into elementary school back on November 14, 1960, Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, and Tessie Prevost entered McDonogh No. 19 Public School in New Orleans. They were first graders, Black, facing protestors, and they counted on members of the U.S. Marshals to keep them safe. Nelson, working closely with Tate, Etienne, and Prevost, who remained lifelong friends, has written the story of that day, accompanied by Bostic's scenes that conjure the era perfectly for young readers. The details are gripping; this was a first grade class of just the three girls and a teacher because the parents of white children removed their own. The windows were covered with brown paper. This lasted an entire school year while the families suffered death threats, harassment, and disruption. They had to change their telephone numbers multiple times. Yet the three girls loved class and their teacher, Miss Meyers; the schoolroom scenes glow like oil paintings. When the girls are transferred, with all other students, to Semmes Elementary, the book becomes bleak; all Black children are bullied by students and teachers alike. The story ends there. Glossary, bibliography, websites, an author's note, and follow-up information about the three women who helped change the course of segregation are all part of the back matter. VERDICT Caution any readers taking this on alone about content; it's brutal, enlightening, hopeful, and realistic. An important piece of history, the book is a treasure and will require classroom discussion.—Kimberly Olson Fakih

School Library Journal