This poem is an elegy for the four girls who were killed when 21 others were injured by a dynamite blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on September 15, 1963. It is told in the voice of a fictional African-American Birmingham child who is turning ten-years-old that day. This book is beautiful and heart-rending. And it is maddening that J. Edgar Hoover, despicable Director of the FBI at that time withheld evidence making conviction of the perpetrators impossible at the time and difficult for the ensuing 39 years. "A gorgeous memorial to the four killed on that horrible day, and to the thousands of children who braved violence to help change the world." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review.
"Filled with emotion. . . . This is a book that should be in every library collection." --Library Media Connection, starred review.
"An intimate experience. . . . An emotional read, made even more accessible and powerful by the viewpoint of the child narrator." --School Library Journal, starred review. Carol Boston Weatherford is an African-American author of over two dozen books for children, most of which have won prestigious awards. She teaches at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.
Honesville, Pennsylvania: WordSong/Boyds Mill Press, 2007. 40 pages illustrated with art and photography on every page.