The Fight for Desegregation: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Courageous Stand Against Separate But Never Equal

Nichol A.: Kids loved it, Recognize it and want to look at the pictures. I love that the story broadens discourse around civil rights

United States on Oct 06, 2023

Bee: I LOVE this book!!! It was way overdue!! Beautifully illustrated with renderings of each Mendez family member that evoke their ancestral ties to different indigenous groups in the United States of Mexico. The book trails their journey searching for a better life and overcoming challenges while doing so, similar to those experienced by immigrants, albeit their origins, when coming to the U.S.A. This family's courageous attempts to be accepted and their actions in combatting segregation in California schools paved the way to the landmark Supreme Court case "Brown v. Board of Education" which ended school segregation throughout the United States. Deepest thanks to author Duncan Tonatiuh and to Amazon for making this award winning children's book readily available. FOR ALL AGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

United States on Sep 22, 2023

Barbara Reid: Based on a true story of discrimination of hispanics in American schools.

United States on Apr 24, 2023

Reader: Good source of information for young minds including adult minds

Canada on Feb 19, 2017

Janice A. Krinsky: Duncan Tonatiuh, in telling this little-known story, has written a really important book - a must-have for school libraries everywhere. The true story of the Mendez family's successful fight against desegregated schools in post-World War II California is a rich source for conversations in the classroom about fairness, justice, prejudice, and historical chapters in our country's checkered past. As a school board member in a highly diverse Northwest suburb of Chicago with a large population of Latino immigrant families, and where more than 60 languages are spoken in the homes of our students, I have successfully read this book in dual-language and general ed classrooms around the district. This picture book has sparked deep, authentic, and brave conversations about race in classrooms with children as young as 8. I will be reading it in junior high classrooms as well in the coming weeks. I would recommend previewing the book starting with the front cover. It's very telling, but not at all surprising, that when asked what's going on in the picture, white children will say things like, "The children are not friends," whereas any brown child will say, "The white kids don't like the...

United States on Oct 31, 2016

momof2: Every school should have this book and its lessons should be taught in elementary schools and at home. When my attention was drawn to this book and the fact that the desegregation fight began with the Latino community I had to buy this book. I am a lawyer and was a child during the civil rights fight yet I was unaware that the first desegregation victory was not brown vs. board of education. A third grader could read this book him/herself. It is appropriate to read to second graders at the same time black history month is celebrated. It describes how persistent one has to be to attain justice, but that other good citizens will help you, and that justice (sometimes--my edit) will prevail. The artwork is Latino style and the text is straightforward. I am buying 2 copies -- one for each of my upcoming third grade teachers-,in the hopes they will cover this in class. Though we live in a community with a substantial Guatemalan population, the vocal parent have succeeded in excluding Latino-American history from the agenda. I am Caucasian and my children are from Guatemala. And the more things change the more they stay the same.

United States on Jun 28, 2014