With the Might of Angels (Dear America)

Coretta Scott King winner Andrea Davis Pinkney brings her talents to a brand-new Dear America diary about the Civil Rights Movement.

NARRATOR: TBAFORMAT: 4 CDs, UnabridgedIn the fall of 1955, twelve-year-old Dawn Rae Johnson's life turns upside down. After the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Dawnie learns she will be attending a previously all-white school. She's the only one of her friends to go to this new school and to leave the comfort of all that is familiar to face great uncertainty in the school year ahead. However, not everyone supports integration and much of the town is outraged at the decision. Dawnie must endure the harsh realities of racism firsthand, while continuing to work hard to get a good education and prove she deserves the opportunity. But the backlash against Dawnie's attendance of an all-white school is more than she's prepared for. | Andrea Davis Pinkney is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of nearly 50 books for young readers, among them The Red Pencil and A Poem for Peter, as well as several collaborations with her husband, Brian Pinkney, including Martin Rising: Requiem for a King, Sit-In, and Hand in Hand, which received the Coretta Scott King Book Award. Andrea Davis Pinkney lives in New York City. You can follow her on Twitter at @AndreaDavisPink, on Instagram at @Andreapinkney1, and on Facebook at @andreadavispinkey. |

From Dear America: With the Might of Angels

This morning when I sat down, Daddy took a break from his breakfast reading. The little smile playing in his eyes told me a surprise was brewing. He looked at me for a long moment. "Happy birthday, Dawnie."

Then he pushed that New York paper under my nose. "Here, child."

He was eager to show me the front page headline. "Clip this for your new diary."

I looked carefully.

Daddy told me to read what I saw. He said, "Speak loud enough to scare some pigeons."

I read slowly, pressing each word into the warm morning air.

Washington - May 17, 1954

High Court Bans School Segregation: 9-to-0

Decision Grants Time to Comply

Seems Mama already knew the news.

Didn't take her but a minute to hand me a pair of scissors from her sewing basket, and a tin of paste from her craft bin.

"Make your birthday book look pretty," Goober said.

Nobody even had to tell me what to do. I knew right off why those scissors and paste brush were suddenly in my hands.