Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down

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Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down was written by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Andrea Davis Pinkney is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books for children, including the Caldecott Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Honor Book Duke Ellington, illustrated by Brian Pinkney; Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and winner of the Carter G. Woodson Award; and Alvin Ailey, a Parenting Publication Gold medal winner.[1]

Summary

A movement book is made by Andrea Davis Pinkney who uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the "whites only" Woolworth's lunch counter. Brian Pinkney embraces a new artistic style, creating expressive paintings filled with emotion that mirror the hope, strength, and determination that fueled the dreams of not only these four young men but also countless others.[2]

Pros

This history book is a wonderful collaboration by a wife (story) and husband (illustrator) team. It relates the famous occurrence of the four young African-American men, who in 1960 sat down at a Woolworth’s counter and tried to get served at a whites-only segregated restaurant, and how their actions inspired others to also get involved in the civil rights integration movement, and how they succeeded after a groundswell they helped create, explained Lisa as one of the readers. Paul Hankins who gave this book five stars commented that Andrea Davis Pinkney and her illustrator husband, Brian Pinkney, take us to the counter with striking illustrations and informative narration which includes a Civil Rights Timeline included at the end of the book.[1]

Incredible art and the artful weaving of food and citizenry make history accessible to elementary-aged students. This is a nice complement to other reading about community activism and nonviolence.[3]

Jennifer M. Brown also gave her opinions, she said that a backlash develops in response to the movement's success, and Brian Pinkney represents the opponents' anger as a purple tempest of finger-pointing and angry expressions muted by the peaceful faces of the protestors in the foreground. Pull quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a timeline of milestones in the civil rights movement and an author's note clearly demonstrate for young readers the injustice that prompted the sit-ins and their context within the civil rights movement. On this 40th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins, this book is a powerful and eloquent reminder of the role of young people as the instrument of change and the impact they can continue to have on society at large.[4]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down. goodreads.com. Retrieved February 2nd, 2021
  2. it-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down. Retrieved February 2nd, 2021
  3. Sit-in: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down. thereadingtub.org. Retrieved February 2nd, 2021
  4. M.Brown, Jennifer. Children's Review: Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down. Retrieved February 2nd, 2021