claudette colvin twice toward justice by phillip hoose

Hoose was captured by the story of the Danish teenagers that resisted the invading German army and penned the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor-winning The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and The Churchill Club (2015). It won the Christopher Award for “artistic excellence…affirming the highest values of the human spirit.” His first book for young adults, “It’s Our World, Too!”: Young People Who Are Making A Difference (1993), is a gallery of young people who created positive social change at all scales.

Social activism has been at the heart of Hoose’s work. Studs Terkel called it, “maybe the most exhilarating and revelatory history of our country.” Hoose began the six-year research and writing project after being told by a middle school student that not seeing anyone her age in her history books made her “feel invisible.” Hoose’s book restores youth to the national story. Hoose first discovered Colvin’s story while researching the 66 profiles which became the National Book Award-nominated book, We Were There Too!: Young People in U.S.

Claudette Colvin and Phillip Hoose are currently working on a picture book about her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in 1955. The book was the most honored title for young people that year, bringing home one of the most coveted of prizes in children’s literature, the Newbery Honor. The contributions of the teenager Claudette Colvin to the Civil Rights Movement were overlooked until Phil wrote the National Book Award-winning Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (2010). The book’s conclusion, “What do you think that kid should do?” leaves the decision of “to squish or not to squish” in the hands of readers and has spawned thousands of classroom discussions, essays, and artwork. The book has sold over a million copies and has been translated into 10 languages.

First composed as a song, Hey, Little Ant (1996) brings attention to the often overlooked and frequently squished ant. Phil Hoose’s first children’s book was a picture book that he co-wrote with his then nine-year-old daughter Hannah Hoose. When author Phillip Hoose was awarded the Katahdin Award for lifetime achievement by the Maine Library Association, the committee stated that his “books for children, young adults, and adults have brought the under-noticed and overlooked to stunning clarity and inclusion with the power of his storytelling.”

Claudette colvin twice toward justice by phillip hoose