Steamboat School

Description

When James started school his sister practically had to drag him there - he knew everything outside was more exciting than anything he'd find inside. Until his teacher taught him otherwise. 'We make our own light here,' Reverend Meachum told James. And through hard work, they did - until their school was shut down by a new law forbidding African American education in Missouri. Determined to continue teaching his students, Reverend Meachum decided to build a new school - a floating school in the Mississippi River, just outside the boundary of the unjust law.

Deborah Hopkinson is the author of more than forty-five books for young readers including picture books, short fiction, and nonfiction. She has won the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for picture book text twice, and in 2013 received both a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction honor and a Robert F. Sibert honor for Titanic: Voices from the Disaster. Visit Deborah online at deborahhopkinson.com. Ron Husband, the first African American animator at Walt Disney Studios, worked on films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame during his thirty-eight years at the company. His illustrations have also been featured in a number of children's publications. Ron lives in San Dimas, California, with his wife. They have three children and three beautiful granddaughters. Learn more about Ron's work online at ronhusband.blogspot.com.

"A heartrending book that will inspire readers of all ages to better understand the history of discrimination."--SLJ "An unforgettable story that needs to be known."--Kirkus "Gentle yet forceful, it's an affecting tribute to an unsung crusader for equal rights and education."--Publishers Weekly