This Promise of Change Book Review

This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality

By Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy

Published January 2019 

Mom's Review
This Promise of Change was one of the finalists I had to judge for the Cybils Awards. I'm sharing a review of it because it surprised me. Although it was not selected by the panel as the winner, it was one of my top selections.

Rather than prose divided into chapters, This Promise of Change is a series of short poems detailing the experience of Jo Ann Allen as she integrates Clinton High School in Tennessee with several other students. I usually shy away from stories told through poems, but I didn't really have a choice on this one. After reading unhappily for a few pages, I began to really appreciate the format. As I continued, I realized that the poetry was ideal to the subject matter. I wound up unable to stop reading until I came to the very end.

As a panel, we judged books on the writing and on "kid appeal." This Promise of Change has both in spades. I did not expect to be so drawn in, but Boyce and Levy’s writing provides such an intimate look that I was captivated. The verse allows for a raw expression of Jo Ann Allen’s experience and is fast paced, reflecting the urgency of the threats she faced. School segregation as a policy is increasingly further from students' awareness, so a firsthand account of desegregation would be fascinating and informative for young readers. This Promise of Change gives voice to the pioneers of school equality, which is perpetually relevant.

I am so glad that I read This Promise of Change. It's one book I would want in my classroom and in my own child's hands.

Back matter provides desired information about the students’ lives after the initial integration.

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To give you an idea of how all-consuming This Promise of Change is:

T was working with 3 LEGO sets at my feet. I wasn't paying close attention to him, just taking a few pieces apart now and then when asked. When I closed the book at the conclusion, I finally saw 1,000+ bricks spread out across our library floor.

Extra: cybils.com You can peruse all the nominees and winners. So many amazing children's books! 

Note: A review copy was provided by Bloomsbury in conjunction with judging for the Cybils.