The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis, adapted by Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert

Most of our students will tell you they know all about Rosa Parks, but it’s likely that most of Passages’ readers, including adults, could learn a great deal from just a chapter of this author’s research.  This review is of the adapted version in which author Jeanne Theoharis collaborated with acclaimed YA author Brandy Colbert to make a version more accessible to adolescent readers.

At close  to 300 pages, educators may find the simplest way to introduce this title and its content is to whet students’ appetite for more with an excerpt, although it would be a challenge to select just one.  The text begins with Parks’s birth in 1913 and follows the civil rights movement as did Parks’s life and work.  Highly recommended for Humanities and Social Studies educators working with detained youth and readers who enjoyed Hidden Figures.  The Zinn Education Project offers related lesson plans developed by a group of teachers convened by the author here. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Theoharis, Jeanne. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks Adapted for Young People. Boston: Beacon Hill Press, 2021. Print.