The Story of Ruby Bridges

"Please God, try to forgive those people. Because even if they say those bad things, they don't know what they're doing. So you could forgive them, just like you did those folks a long time ago when they said terrible things about you."

The Story of Ruby Bridges
By: Robert Coles
Copyright 1995
Scholastic Press
Non Fiction Picture Book
Middle Elementary School
25 Pages

The story of a young girl who had an unbelevibul amount of courage.  A child who taught many so much and changed the life and history for everyone.  The story of one little African Amarican girl who went to school, for the first time. 
A child of a poor family, bairly making it by and then her father loses his job and they are forced to move.  Both parents did their best working to take care of their family, they wanted the best for them.  They wanted to be near God's spirit and feel him from the very start, so they went to church every sunday.  Durring this time in New Orleans in 1957 they were segrigating the blacks and whites, they had to go to different schools and could not recive the same education, and this was aginst the law.  In 1960, a judge ordered some girls to go to two different white schools, and little six-year-old Ruby Bridges was one of them, but the only black child sent to that school.  Her parents were proud that she had been chosen, and they prayed, they prayed long and hard for their daughter to stand tall with her head up high.  They knew what this would mean for their people , all the american people.  The first day Ruby was to go to school angry protesters stood outside of Franyz Elementary School in protest.  They did not want a black child going to this white school.  These people yelled names at Ruby and the city and state police did nothing for the child.  Ruby was escorted by federal marshals that the persident ordered and they carried gun with them.  Week after week, month after month, this was Ruby's school day.  The marshels protected her from the crowd who always tried to get at her, Ruby would run through them just to get to the school and away from the mob.  People would not send their children to school, so everyday it was just Ruby going to school and her teacher who saw no difference in the type of student that Ruby was compared to the others.  She noticed that Ruby was not scared, but she enjoyed her time at school, learning to read  and write in an empty classroom.  Her teacher did not understand how Ruby did it, she was all alone in everything and still so relaxed. Mrs. Henry (her teacher) thought Ruby would have to brakedown eventually.  One morning as she watched Ruby walk thought the mob of protesters she saw Ruby stop in frount of them and talk to them.  She watched as the marshels tried to get her to move into the school, as the mob looked like they were ready to kill this child.  Ruby stoped talking and turned and walked into the school.  When she entered into her classroom her teacher asked what had she talked to them about.  Ruby did not talk to the people, she had forgot to pray until right in the middle of the mob, every day she prayed, prayed for those people who hated her.  She said this prayer twice a day, once before she went to school and once after school.  "Please God, try to forgive those people.  Because even if they say those bad things, they don't know what they're doing.  So you could forgive them, just like you did those folks a long time ago when they said terrible things about you."
It took two years until the first two students went back to the school, two boys joined Ruby.  The mob was not happy about this, but soon more students started going back to school.  They had knew they had been cheeting their kids out of an education.  This lead to the desegrigration of the schools.  All because of the courage of Ruby Bridges. 

I would recomend this book to have at home and be read to kids, to have at school and read to the class.  This is such a great story for children to learn young about how things used to be, and to understand some black history. 

I can't really say there is anything wrong with this book since, well, it is true.  What is wrong is the world.  This book should be read.  This is history, and should be taught. 

I loved this book.  I even cried.  I hate the fact that things like this happened, even to a child.  How people could be so racasist that day after day, week after week, month after month stand out inforunt of this school and not even send their children to school FOR TWO YEARS!  I think we could all be a little more like Ruby, she kind of makes you feel like you can do anything.