March. Book One.

Citation

Aydin, A. & Lewis, J. (2013). March. book one. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions

Description

Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper’s farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president.

Now, to share his remarkable story with new generations, Lewis presents March, a graphic novel trilogy, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and New York Times best-selling artist Nate Powell (winner of the Eisner Award and LA Times Book Prize finalist for Swallow Me Whole).

March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.

Book One spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.

Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1950s comic book "Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story." Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.

Historical Fiction

Scholarly Review

YA Illustrated by Nate Powell. Congressman John Lewis--the last surviving member of the "Big Six" civil rights leaders--recounts his formative years in this first volume of a planned trilogy. The book opens on "Bloody Sunday" then fast-forwards to Barack Obama's January 2009 inauguration. The volume is well designed and the story expertly paced. Powell re-creates the time period vividly through his emotion-filled black-and-white art.

[The Horn Book Guide, 2014]

My Analysis

I loved this graphic novel. The story was engaging from the starte, and went back and forth through the point of view of Representative John Lewis between the 1950s/60s and Barack Obama’s 2009 presidential inauguration. The graphic novel is the first in a trilogy. March. Book One depicts John Lewis’s early life and explores how he became part of the civil rights movement. He is the only living speaker from the March on Washington. John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell did a stunning job of depicting the emotion of the time as well as the events leading up to the March on Washington.

Tags

civil rights movement, Alabama, nonviolent protesting, John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr.

Usage

This would be a great book to use as part of Black History Month because it is so powerful. Since it is a graphic novel, it is a fairly quick read, and I think students would be drawn to it because it is about the civil rights movement. This would also be a good book to use in tandem with history or social studies units on the civil rights movement.

Awards

2014 Coretta Scott King Award
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award - Special Recognition (the first graphic novel to win this award)

Censorship

I see references to this book being part of Banned Books Week in schools and libraries, but I cannot find specific challenges or articles.

References

Bloom, S. (2014, Spring). Lewis, John, and Andrew Aydin: March: book one. The Horn Book Guide, 25(1), 139. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.uky.edu/apps/doc/A366238872/BRIP?u=uky_main&sid=BRIP&xid=1df5773d

Top Shelf Productions. (n.d.). March. book one. details. Retrieved from http://www.topshelfcomix.com/catalog/march-book-one/760