cover image The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist

The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist

Cynthia Levinson, illus. by Vanessa Brantley Newton. Atheneum, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4814-0070-1

Levinson returns to the subject of We’ve Got a Job as she recounts, for a younger audience, the story of Audrey Faye Hendricks and her role in the 1963 Children’s March in Birmingham, Ala. Moving briskly through events, Levinson explains how the young Hendricks was eager to stand up to segregation, marching alongside thousands of fellow students, who were subsequently arrested. Newton’s bright, digitally assembled collages adeptly highlight the danger of the situation—grim cells, barbed-wire fences, children blasted with fire hoses—while emphasizing the power of the marchers’ collective efforts to push back against injustice. Ages 5–10. Author’s agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (Jan.)