Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down

By Andrea Davis Pinkney

Illustrated by Brian Pinkney

Genre: Non-fiction

Curriculum subject: Social Studies: History; Social Studies: African Americn Heritage

Grades: All

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This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement.

Andrea Davis Pinkney uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the “whites only” Woolworth’s lunch counter. Brian Pinkney embraces a new artistic style, creating expressive paintings filled with emotion that mirror the hope, strength, and determination that fueled the dreams of not only these four young men, but also countless others.

PRAISE

Carter G. Woodson Book Award Winner

Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Finalist

★ “Food-related wordplay adds layers to the free verse… [and] at the core of the exciting narrative are scenes that show the difficulty of facing hatred… Even young children will grasp the powerful, elemental, and historic story of those who stood up to oppressive authority and changed the world.” – Booklist