Ruth and the Green Book

by Calvin Ramsey

Think picture books are just for little kids? Not so with Ruth and the Green Book. This is a great short read about a young African American girl named Ruth, whose family decided to go on a road trip one summer from Chicago to her Grandma's home in Alabama after they purchase their first car. But the South is very different in the 1950s than her hometown of Chicago, as Ruth soon realizes after being turned away from bathrooms, restaurants, and hotels time and time again because they are for "whites only."  Their road trip becomes a whole lot safer, though, when they are given the Green Book, a guidebook that...
listed all of the places that would welcome black travelers. Although Ruth is fictional, the Green Book and its role in helping African Americans avoid many of the dangers that came with the Jim Crow laws in the South during that time period is historical fact. In fact, you can go to http://www.ruthandthegreenbook.com/ to view a copy of a real Green Book.
--Ms. Bell