Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys

Virgie has five brothers who all make the seven mile journey to school, but she wants to go too. Lincoln has just given everyone freedom and the Quakers have opened a school to teach the free slaves how to read and write. Though Virgie is a young girl she demands that she can learn to be free, just

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like her brothers.

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This book was very inspiring. It is about a little african american girl in post-civil war time. She wants to go to school with her five brothers. It shows the struggles of african americans around that time. Even though they were considered free, they were not as well off as the white people.

The illustrations of Vergie Goes to School with Us Boys tell pretty well the story of a little girl whose greatest wish is to go to school with her brothers. On nearly all pictures you can find Virgie with her four brothers in the foreground. Most of them are very colorful and I liked the way the

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author integrated the text into the pictures.

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Virgie Goes to School with US Boys illustrated by F.B. Lewis is an amazing book and won the Caldecott Medal. The illustrator Lewis used watercolours and alternates beween strong, lively and grey colours. But perfect for the clothes and the time the book is set in. First, I tried to read the book

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without the text and it was definitely no problem. As the protagonist is an Afro-American girl and the school principal, one might expect that the story is about the difference in race. The text is integrated in the paintings, on the right or the left, or sometimes on both pages.

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A great book to introduce changing times. Set in 1865 during the Reconstruction period, free people of color had to travel far to attend school. This story is based on true facts and follows a family as they travel seven miles to school where they have to spend all week there. I am using this book

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as part of a Change in Lifestyle Unit.

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Based upon the story of her own grandfather, Cornelius C. Fitzgerald, and his siblings, and their attendance at a Quaker-run school for newly liberated African-American slaves in post-Civil War Tennessee, Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard's Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys is the moving and

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inspirational story of a young girl who refuses to relinquish her dream of getting an education. Pestering her older brothers - George, Will, Nelson, Val, and C.C. - and then her parents, Virgie eventually wins permission to attend school, despite her family's concern that she is too small to make the long journey, and that she will cry for her mother, during the long week when the children must live in town.

Chosen as a Coretta Scott King Honor Book for its illustrations, Virgie Goes to School With Us Boys is as appealing, visually speaking, as it is from a storytelling perspective. E.B. Lewis' watercolor artwork captures each scene beautifully - the Fitzgerald siblings, drawn together into a tight group, confronting the frightening forest that looms ahead; Virgie herself, a quill in her hand and a big smile on her face, ready to dive into her studies - accentuating the underlying emotional significance of the story. I particularly appreciated the fact that it was Virgie, despite the nay-saying of her brothers, who managed to rally the group as they were passing through the woods, suggesting that they sing, in order to keep their courage up. The author's afterword, in which she gives more information about her family, and the characters in the story, was quite interesting.

All in all, a book I highly recommend: to young readers who enjoy family stories, particularly historical ones; to children who think education is a waste of time, rather than the precious gift that it is; and to anyone looking for high-quality picture-books featuring the African-American experience.

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This is the true story of a young girl who refuses to give up on her dream of going to school. After begging her brother and her parents, a young girl is granted permission to attend school. Her family is concerned that she is too small to make the seven mile journey and that she will cry for home.

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This is a great post Civil War story about how despite African-Americans winning freedom, times were still tough for them. This story is great to show how cultures began to integrate and how times were beginning to change. I would use this book for second grade on up. I think it gives great insight into history dealing with cultures divisions and gender divisions.

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This realistic fiction book tells the story of a young African American girl who begs her parents to let her go to school with her brothers for a week. The school is seven miles away, and they have to walk there and stay there until the weekend. After summer, her parents say she can go with the

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boys to school. So, she walks with the boys all the way to the school, and even got all the boys singing together. When they get to the school she meets the headmaster of the Quaker school, and looks inside. She cannot wait to learn how to read and tell her parents all about it.

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This book is a great historical fiction book because it tells a motivating story about a girl, Virgie, who is determined to attend school just like her brothers. Virgie is insistent, and the wonderful rhymes of the telling take us past the mill, the stream, the woods and finally to the school where

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she vows to read every book. The illustrations are beautiful with light and dark colors, allowing the greens of forest and meadow and the rich brown skin tones of the characters make a sparkling series of images. Children will love the engaging pictures and the moving messages about the value of learning.

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