Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Floyd Cooper

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and illustrated by Floyd Cooper was published in 2010, and I purchased this book for the art. I discovered that the story is also important. I didn't read it until I got it home, and I am glad to have this book in my library.

Ruth and her family drive from Chicago to Alabama to visit her grandmother. Unfortunately, people are racists and because Ruth and her family are Black, they have a hard time finding places where they can use the restroom, buy meals, or stay the night. When they get to Tennessee, a friend recommends they look for Esso service stations because they'll be treated well there. They are able to buy a Green Book at Esso that lists places that will treat them well on their journey.

I like this book because while it's appropriate for use in an elementary school, there is enough information to use it in a middle or high school setting. It touches on Jim Crow and other horrible racist practices, so an older student could use this as a jumping off point for research.

Also, the art in this book by Floyd Cooper is fantastic. I know I mentioned the art before, but seriously, this book is beautiful.

We've had donations to our NICU book project this week. Thank you to each and every one of you.

Rolean Peterson donated these four:

Angie Moore sent these six over:

  

The Ogden Mustang Hockey Team held a book drive and donated 33 books:

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.