The Wedding Portrait
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The Wedding Portrait is an essential book for kids about standing up for what's right. Here are stories of direct action from around the world that are bookended by the author's wedding story. He and his bride led their wedding party to a protest, and were captured in a photo by the local newspaper kissing in front of a line of police just before being arrested. "We usually follow the rules. But sometimes, if you see something is wrong--more wrong than breaking the rules and by breaking the rules you might stop it--you may need to break the rules." When indigenous people in Colombia block an oil company from destroying their environment--this is a blockade; when Florida farmworkers encourage people not to buy their tomatos because the farm owners won't pay them for their hard work--this is called a boycott; and when Claudette Colvin takes a seat in the front of the bus to protest racism--this is called civil disobedience. In brilliantly bright and inspiring illustrations we see ordinary people say No--to unfair treatment, to war, to destroying the environment. Innosanto Nagara has beautifully melded an act of love with crucial ideas of civil disobedience and direct action that will speak to young readers' sense of right and wrong. There has never been a more important moment for Innosanto Nagara's gentle message of firm resolve.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When is it okay to break the rules? While explaining the backstory of a family photo that shows a bride and groom in front of a row of armed police officers, Nagara (A Is for Activist) unpacks the idea of nonviolent civil disobedience in simple, accessible language. He opens with the example of segregation. The protests led by Claudette Colvin and others weren't raucous. First one bus rider refused to move, then another, then another, "and guess what? In the end, the laws were changed. This is called civil disobedience." Examples of boycotts and other forms of protest follow, taking readers from India to Colombia and into the present day with the formation of Black Lives Matter. And the photograph on the wall? It commemorates the wedding day of Nagara and his wife, who celebrated by attending an antinuclear demonstration. Nagara's collages represent each story with the impact of political posters. He lays out the different ways that oppressive laws have been successfully resisted while remaining essentially lighthearted, as when he describes spending his wedding day under arrest: "It was like a super long time-out." Ages 6 9.