Ruth and the Green Book

Ruth and her mother and father are heading from Chicago to Alabama to visit her grandmother. But she soon finds that being African American heading to the South isn't as fun a trip as she thought. Her family isn't able to get gas at all of the stations, eat at all of the restaurants and one night

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even have to sleep in the car because no white motel owners will let them stay the night in a room. Then an Esso gas station clerk sells them a Green Book that helps give them addresses of places that will serve African Americans.

This historical fiction piece is very touching. It clearly deserves the 2012-2013 Texas Bluebonnet Award as it's written from the perspective of the young girl. I think it'll be very effective with my 2nd graders.

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This book follows an African American family traveling in their new car from their home in Chicago to visit family in Alabama. As they travel further south, the Jim Crow laws enacted there make the road less and less hospitable. Barred from restrooms, they go in the woods. Unwelcome at motels, they

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sleep in their car. A friend recommended they look for Esso service stations, where they would be served. At one such station, the attendant sells them a copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book – created by a postman to help African American people traveling. With the book, the family is able to locate inns, restaurants, and auto services to complete their journey safely.

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a real book created in 1936 to help African American travelers find welcoming businesses in New York City. The Green Book, as it was called, became very popular, and soon expanded to cover much of North America. The final edition of the Green Book was published in 1964, the year that President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill into law.

Curriculum: this book highlights an important but perhaps little-known piece of African American history. It would be an excellent book for instructional units covering the Great Migration, the Civil Rights Era, or Dr. Martin Luther King.

Ramsey, C. & Cooper, F. (2010). Ruth and the green book. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books.

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Ruth and her family set out on adventure in their brand new car. They are driving all the way from their home in Chicago to visit her Grandmother in Alabama. During their drive Ruth learns a tough lesson, black people are not treated very fairly in some places. Gas stations refuse to let them fill

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their car up, hotels refuse to let them spend the night. All because of the color of their skin. Ruth and her family finally find an Esso station that serves blacks. The attendant sells them The Green Book, the book lists all the places that allow black travelers. Along the way the meet many kind people willing to help them on their journey. Ruth and her finally make it safely to her grandmothers house in Alabama. This may not have been possible without the help of The Green Book.

This book is very touching. I cannot even imagine how difficult a task it must have been to travel in those times being African-American. What a great book!

I can see using this in the classroom during black history month. It would also be beneficial in history class while talking about civil rights. This book is perfect for younger children just being introduced to history lessons.

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Ruth and the Green Book

This book was excellent; it gave information that I never knew existed. Ruth and the Green Book is about a little girl named Ruth’s first vacation. The trip will take her from her home in Chicago to her Grandmother’s house in Alabama. Ruth and her family are met with very

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harsh treatment along the way because they are black. They were not allowed to eat at certain restaurants or use certain restrooms, or even get gas. They finally made to a friend’s house and he have them the “Green Book” and it was a guide to places and people who would allow them to use their facilities.

Extension:
Students can talk about prejudices and how they hurt people, bill of rights.
Explore what happened during slavery and its origins.

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Review: Ruth's family plans on going on a big road trip to visit Grandma in Alabama from Chicago. But being an African American family in the 1950's it is anything but easy going. The family finds hardship during their travels being turned away due to the color of their skin. This changes though

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when stopping for gas one time they learn about The Negro Motorist Green Book. With this book they are able to complete their trip to Grandma's house.

Personal: I think stories like these are important to pass on to our students/children. It is hard to believe that it was not that long ago when a story like this really could take place on any normal day.

Classroom Extension: 1.Use the book while teaching about Civil Rights. 2. Have a class discussion about how it would have felt traveling with this family

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When Ruth and her parents take a motor trip from Chicago to Alabama to visit her grandma, they rely on a pamphlet called "The Negro Motorist Green Book" to find places that will serve them. Includes facts about "The Green Book." A well-written, beautifully illustrated story.

This was a tremendous book. I really found it interesting and I definitely can think of a few ways to use it. The online resource it provides is also excellent. The only thing that threw me was the second sentence on the first page. The narrator was referring to her father's car and halfway through

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the page, she jumped tenses from past to present and by the beginning of the next page she jumped back to past tense and stayed there for the rest of the book. I don't know if that was a mistake, but it threw me off. The Green Book is a fascinating piece of history that I'd never heard of. I'd love to know a little bit more about it. It makes sense that someone would do that though. Floyd Cooper's illustrations were outstanding as ever.

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This story is about a black family who was traveling across the country from Chicago to Alabama during segregation. Along the way they stopped at some places that did not accept them just because they were black. But they eventually found a place that accepted them and sold them a Green Book, which

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had all the places that would accept black people. The kept traveling and stopping at places in the Green Book and made it safely to Alabama.

I think this is a great book fir children in explaining racism. I remember reading a book similar to this one when I was in grade school and thought how strange it was that people would treat people differently just because of skin color. I think this book had very detailed illustrations that kids would like as well.

I can see using this in the classroom during black history month. It would also be beneficial in history class while talking about civil rights. This book is perfect for younger children just being introduced to history lessons.

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Summary
Ruth is an African American little girl from Chicago in the time of segregation. Her father came home with a new car and the family decided to take a trip to Alabama to see Ruth’s grandmother. The trip started off great and exciting until the family encountered their first situation with a

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“white’s only” restroom at a gas station. Then they tried to stay in a hotel but were informed that it too was “white’s only”. After encountering many situations like that a man at an Esso station told them about The Green Book. The book was filled with places that would accommodate black travelers. After purchasing the book for seventy-five cents, the trip seemed to go smoother and the family finally made their way to Alabama. This book is about the true story of The Green Book that African Americans used to help them navigate life because of the Jim Crow laws in the south.

Personal Reaction
I found this story very interesting and easy to read. It provided many multicultural aspects that were easily understood because of the context of the story. This would be a very relateable book to young children because of the age of Ruth in the book. I loved the historical content of the Green Book and what it was and how important it was to African Americans in times of segregation.

Classroom Extension
1. This would be a great book to read during the month of February for Black History month. Students could read the book and then it could be tied to a history lesson about that time period.
2. Another extension could be that students could plan their own road trip across the country and include various stops along the way. The students would have to research these locations and describe them using the knowledge obtained from the research on the locations.

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Summary:
Ruth and her family travel down south to visit her grandparents. On the way their way they run into problems getting a place to stay for the night because they are black. They find a gas station that gives them a Green Book. The Green Book has a list of places they can get food, gas and a

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place to stay. Ruth helped her parents map out the rest of their trip using the Green Book.

Personal Reaction:
I like this book because it is educational about a time when not everyone was so friendly to blacks. I can use this book to educate them on the struggles of their ancestors.

Classroom Extensions:
This book can be read during Black History month. Then the students can research the Green Book.
This book could also be the opening of a conversation on segregation.

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I enjoyed this book for multiple reasons. First I thought the plot was very engaging and realistic. Each event was organized and had a bit of suspense. The plot displayed such a deep and intense topic for children, from a children’s perspective. This allowed the complexity of Jim Crow laws to be

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simplified for children. Secondly, the book pushes readers to learn about history in a different way. Personally, I always knew that blacks and whites were segregated in many ways; however being able to see how the blacks worked together to find solace and a way to travel was very interesting. The way the book describes facts and tool, such as the green book, to help the blacks travel teaches others about a new side of segregation struggles that many people may not know about. Finally, I really enjoyed the illustrations because they were very detailed and displayed emotion well. I could tell how the characters were feeling based off of their facial expressions. For example, when Ruth hands the little boy a teddy bear, he is in shock and ecstatic. This shows just how meaningful every little gesture is from one black person to the next. They helped each other out tremendously and they would not be able to survive without each other.

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This picture book is a gentle look at Jim Crow laws in the South in the 1950s. Young Ruth encounters discrimination for the first time as her family travels by car from Chicago to Alabama. She doesn't understand what is happening until her father explains it to her. When she receives the Green

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Book, Ruth is empowered by her use of it, and has grown up as signified by her passing Brown Bear on to a younger traveler she meets. The Green Book is historically accurate, and a concise short history of its author and genesis is provided at the end of the book. The book is written in simple yet expressive language, and is told in the first person by Ruth. The color illustrations are a wonderful enhancement to the story, and evocative of the 1950s in America.

This book would be a fine introduction to younger children of the topic of discrimination. It would be interesting also to incorporate this into older students' studies of discrimination in our country and the Jim Crow laws. I knew nothing about the Green Book before reading this story. I am glad to know the information I learned.

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The year was 1952, and Ruth and her family were excited to take a road trip in their new Buick, heading south from Chicago to visit her grandmother in Alabama. As African-Americans however, traveling across country wasn't so simple, especially as they headed into the South, where Jim Crow laws

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prevented them from availing of such amenities as restrooms at service stops, or eating at local restaurants. Then a man at an Esso gas station gave them The Green Book, a national guide which detailed all of the businesses in each state and city which welcomed African-American custom, and their trip improved. Thanks to the help of other African-Americans, and the all-important Green Book, they made it safely to Alabama...

With the release last year (2018) of the film Green Book, many movie-goers became aware for the first time of Victor Hugo Green's The Negro Motorist Green Book, first published in 1936. Before the film however, Atlanta-based playwright Calvin Alexander Green wrote a play about the subject in 2007, and it was performed at the Carter Center. He joined forced with co-author Gwen Strauss and illustrator Floyd Cooper to produce this 2010 picture-book based upon his play. I found Ruth and the Green Book to be an immensely engrossing and poignant work of picture-book historical fiction. The authors adeptly depict Ruth's emotional journey in their narrative, as she experiences both the hurt of rejection and racism and the comfort of community solidarity and mutual aid. Her emotional experiences make the depiction of the family's physical journey much more powerful and immediate for the reader. The artwork, as is always the case with the marvelous Floyd Cooper, is expressive and full of feeling, whether of pathos or joy. Recommended to anyone looking for picture-books exploring the history of discrimination against African-Americans in the twentieth-century, and their use of The Green Book as an aid in traveling, during that period.

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I can’t believe I was uninformed about the Green Book, even when I heard about the movie I didn’t understand the significance of its title even though I have had interest in seeing the movie. It wasn’t until learning of this children’s picture book that I learned about The Green Book.

The

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story moved me emotionally, the parts of what Ruth and her family had to go through to the fate of Brown Bear the teddy bear. Heartbreaking. Infuriating. Heartwarming.

I want to learn more about this history. I’m hoping that plenty of white owned/run businesses with while employees also were listed in the Green Book. In this book it was mostly African-American/black run businesses that seemed to welcome African-American/black travelers.

Lush, gorgeous, large illustrations. I loved the expressiveness of people’s expressions. I loved the art style. I loved everything about them. They’re beautiful and they’re crucial part of the storytelling.

The last page of the book is informational. It’s text heavy but includes a photo of the cover of a real Green Book and a photo of a two-page spread of its contents.

Highly recommended for girls and boys ages 7-11, and all interested older people too.

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Ruth and her parents are driving south in the 1950s to visit her grandma in Alabama. She learns that black people are not welcome in many places and her family struggles to find somewhere to stay, get gas, and eat. At a gas station, they are introduced to a the green book which shows friendly

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places black people can go throughout the south. After that, they are able to stay in safe, welcoming places and meet others on the way to her grandma's.

This book is excellent at explaining what Jim Crow and segregation was like in the 1950s from the view of a child. It goes through what Ruth is thinking and feeling during their journey. The book is both sad and heartwarming; it makes you glad there were and are still kind people.

Curriculum connection: It is a good introduction for first person narratives, social studies units for that time period, and possibly units on geography and maps. Also, many people do not know about the green books, so it is a good introduction to them. The back of the book has a short history of the green books. I feel like this can be used to compare and contrast with Clean Getaway which is a contemporary fiction book about a boy on a road trip who refers to the green book his grandfather had to use in the 1960s when he attempted the same road trip.

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I adored this picture book about an African American family living in the North during the Great Migration, and the dangers of travel for African Americans during segregation (as well as the community that formed to provide safety for them).