Even now, a lot of students don’t know as much about the Civil Rights Movement as we might think. As we got older, we realized we’d been there for a very important part of history. During those turbulent times, as youngsters, we were shielded from so much that was happening. In my own personal experience, no kids ever had an opportunity to figure out anything having to do with race. Many years later, while working as a school librarian, I heard Ruby Bridges speak to our students. One thing she shared about her experiences integrating the New Orleans schools as a young child was that she felt had the parents left the children to figure the situation out, maybe things would have turned out differently. That really hit me. But while it was happening, most of my friends and I were shielded from the events of that period in our history. I grew up in Mississippi and was there during the summer of 1964. Soon, however, everyone realizes that things will never be the same. At first, their maid, Emma, assures Glory that everything will turn out fine, that the sisters will always have each other, and eventually their town will move past the events of the summer. GLORY BE is set in a small town in Mississippi during Freedom Summer, 1964. Almost-12-year-old Glory is mystified by much that’s happening in her town, including the closing of the pool and her sister’s preference for a new boyfriend over their secrets and games. Barbara O’Connor, Parents’ Choice Award-winning author of How to Steal a Dog Augusta Scattergood is at the top of my debut-authors-to-watch list. Glory Be weaves a seamless story of sisterly love, broken friendships, and the strength that it takes to stand up for the right thing.

Kathryn Erskine, National Book Award-winning author of Mockingbird Glory Be is a lovely debut novel for younger readers, akin to Kathryn Stockett’s The Help - an important read that raises powerful racial issues of the 1960s American South. Richard Peck, Newbery Award-winning author of A Year Down Yonder All mixed together and beautifully recalled.” It’s a summer of bigotry and beehive hairdos, of sit-ins and dangerous boys. “There’s a whiff of Carson McCullers in Augusta Scattergood’s story of a sultry Southern summer long ago when the outside world moved all the markers of Gloriana Hemphill’s growing up. Classroom Connections is a recurring series meant to introduce teachers to new books.

Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood