Lillian's Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

by Jonah Winter, Shane W. Evans (Illustrator)

Overview

An elderly African American woman, en route to vote, remembers her family’s tumultuous voting history in this picture book publishing in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
 
As Lillian, a one-hundred-year-old African American woman, makes a “long haul up a steep hill” to her polling place, she sees more than trees and sky—she sees her family’s history. She sees the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment and her great-grandfather voting for the first time. She sees her parents trying to register to vote. And she sees herself marching in a protest from Selma to Montgomery. Veteran bestselling picture-book author Jonah Winter and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Shane W. Evans vividly recall America’s battle for civil rights in this lyrical, poignant account of one woman’s fierce determination to make it up the hill and make her voice heard.

"Moving.... Stirs up a potent mixture of grief, anger, and pride at the history of black people’s fight for access to the ballot box." —The New York Times

"A much-needed picture book that will enlighten a new generation about battles won and a timely call to uphold these victories in the present." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"A valuable introduction to and overview of the civil rights movement." —Publishers Weekly, Starred

"An important book that will give you goose bumps." —Booklist, Starred

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385390286
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	07/14/2015
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	58,121
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD1030L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Jonah Winter has written many highly acclaimed books for children, including You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!, which was named an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book and a Booklist Top of the List, and You Never Heard of Willie Mays?!, which received four starred reviews and was named a Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book. His other books include Here Comes the Garbage Barge!, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book; Barack, a New York Times bestseller; and Dizzy, recipient of Best Book of the Year citations from Booklist, School Library Journal, The Horn Book Magazine, The Bulletin, and Kirkus Reviews. Jonah divides his time between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a small town in Pennsylvania.
 
Shane W. Evans is the author and illustrator of numerous books for children, including We March and Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom, which received the Coretta Scott King Illustration Award. He has illustrated more than thirty picture books, including Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper’s Daughter by Alan Govenar, winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Nonfiction. Shane lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where he runs Dream Studio, a community art space.

Editorial Reviews

…Lillian's Right to Vote stirs up a potent mixture of grief, anger and pride at the history of black people's fight for access to the ballot box…Shane W. Evans's folk-art inspired illustrations are a wonder of visual rhythm, with strong colors—deep browns, rich purples and golds—set against softer, peaceful blues.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

★ 08/03/2015
Winter (How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz) introduces an elderly African-American woman whose walk up a steep hill to cast her ballot doubles as a metaphor for the struggle for voting rights. En route, miragelike figures from the past appear in the background, including Lillian's great-great-grandparents, shown in shackles at a slave auction. She remembers moments of progress and protest as she walks, such as the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment and the march from Selma to Montgomery, and she also hears echoes of her uncle describing the impossible literacy test questions he was forced to answer at the polls. Winter's prose has a lofty, oratorical quality ("As long as Lillian still has a pulse, she is going to vote—and so she keeps on climbing"), skillfully blending Lillian's individual path to the voting booth with the historical context that made it possible. Evans (28 Days) is equally adept at balancing the political and the personal, giving Lillian a stateliness and evident inner strength. A valuable introduction to and overview of the civil rights movement. Ages 5–9. Illustrator's agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"Moving.... Stirs up a potent mixture of grief, anger, and pride at the history of black people’s fight for access to the ballot box." —The New York Times

“A much-needed picture book that will enlighten a new generation about battles won and a timely call to uphold these victories in the present.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“The illustrations… are what truly distinguish this offering… A powerful historical picture book.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“Simple yet powerful, Lillian’s narrative transforms a complex topic into an affecting story suitable for a younger audience, making it a perfect introduction to voting and civil rights. An important book that will give you goose bumps.” —Booklist, starred  review

"“Winter's prose has a lofty, oratorical quality...skillfully blending Lillian's individual path to the voting booth with the historical context that made it possible...A valuable introduction to and overview of the civil rights movement.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 06/01/2015
Gr 1–4—Lillian may be old, but it's Voting Day, and she's going to vote. As she climbs the hill (both metaphorical and literal) to the courthouse, she sees her family's history and the history of the fight for voting rights unfold before her, from her great-great-grandparents being sold as slaves to the three marches across Selma's famous bridge. Winter writes in a well-pitched, oral language style ("my, but that hill is steep"), and the vocabulary, sentence structure, and font make the book well-suited both for independent reading and for sharing aloud. The illustrations, though, are what truly distinguish this offering. Lillian is portrayed in resolute left-to-right motion, and her present-day, bright red dress contrasts with the faded greens, blues, and grays of the past, sometimes in a direct overlay. A bright yellow sun, which readers may recognize from Evans's illustrations in Charles R. Smith Jr.'s 28 Days: Moments in Black History That Changed the World (Roaring Brook, 2015), symbolizes hope as it travels across the sky. The story concludes on an emphatic note, with a close-up of Lillian's hand on the ballot lever. An author's note provides historical context, including information about the woman who inspired Lillian (Lillian Allen, who in 2008 at age 100 voted for Barack Obama), and ends by reminding readers that protecting voting rights is still an ongoing issue. VERDICT A powerful historical picture book.—Jill Ratzan, I. L. Peretz Community Jewish School, Somerset, NJ

School Library Journal

★ 2015-04-15
In a book commemorating the Voting Rights Act of 1965, readers are introduced to 100-year-old black Alabaman Lillian, who recalls her long-delayed journey to exercise her American right to vote 50 years ago. As Lillian climbs the "very steep hill" to the courthouse to vote, she reminisces about the struggles that African-Americans faced and overcame on the way to the passage of the historic law that dismantled the widespread exclusionary practices that African-Americans encountered to that point and guaranteed their right to vote. She's reminded of the legacy of slavery that her great-grandparents Edmund and Ida survived and of the 19th Amendment, which allowed women to vote, yet angry mobs of white locals forced her parents to back away, holding little Lillian by the hand. She pauses to recall the actions in Selma, 1965. She arrives at the voting booth and presses the lever. In Evans' mixed-media illustrations, a stooped Lillian makes her slow way up the hill as the tableaux of history play out on the page. She is dressed in vibrant colors, contrasting with the faded, translucent historical images. A burning cross figures in one powerful spread; another joins 100-year-old Lillian to her 50-years-younger self at the gutter, emphasizing her determination to claim her rights. A much-needed picture book that will enlighten a new generation about battles won and a timely call to uphold these victories in the present. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews