Book Guide

John Henry swims better than anyone I know.
He crawls like a catfish,
blows bubbles like a swamp monster,
but he doesn't swim in the town pool with me.
He's not allowed.

Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim.

But there's one important way they're different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn't allowed to do everything his best friend is.

Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there... only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people's hearts.

This stirring account of the "Freedom Summer" that followed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 powerfully and poignantly captures two boys' experience with racism and their friendship that defies it.

From the dust jacket

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Deborah Wiles

Deborah Wiles

1953 -
American
Deborah Wiles was born in Alabama and grew up in an Air Force family, moving many times but digging deep roots into the Mississippi soil of her exte... See more
Jerome Lagarrigue

Jerome Lagarrigue

1973 -
French-American
Jerome Lagarrigue was born and raised in Paris, France, before moving to the United States, where he graduated from the Rhode Island School of Desig... See more

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Content Guide

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Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Freedom Summer
Vibrant full-page paintings by talented French-born artist Lagarrigue capture both the palpable heat of southern summer days and the warmth of the boys’ friendship....

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