White Water by Michael S. BandyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a great read-aloud option to initiate discussion during Black History Month or a history/social studies unit. Michael is a curious boy who wants to know whether the "Whites only" fountain has the fresh, cool water that he imagines (and really wants after his long, hot bus ride). What he discovers - separate water fountains spurting the same hot, bad-tasting water from the same pipe - can serve as a lead-in for thinking about differences, whether what our society tells is true is actually true, why we allocate resources differently, even the legal concept of separate but equal that was challenged in Brown vs. Board of Ed. It has a nice large format with imaginative illustrations showing Michael's thoughts that makes it great for reading to a class or group. The illustrator grew up in Georgia, and the scenes she depicts were immediately familiar to me, especially the field covered in kudzu.
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