Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told

Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth be Told

Author: Walter Dean Myers

Illustrator: Bonnie Christensen

Publishing Company: HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright Date: 2008

37 pages

Nonfiction

  

Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth be Told by Walter Dean Myers is an absolutely stunning biography of Ida B. Wells’ life and achievements. While I do have some previous knowledge of Ida B. Wells, I do not remember learning her story throughout any of my education. Therefore, I was able to look at this book somewhat as a child would have and I could not have been more intrigued. Ida B. Wells was born into slavery. After the thirteenth amendment, slavery became illegal and therefore all slaves were now free. Once free, she began to go to school and excelled quickly. Ida passed her teaching test and began her first job teaching. But all the while, she was noticing life around her for African Americans. This slowly began to shape Ida B. Wells, and she began to write in protest. She wrote about her own personal experiences as well as others. She began to shape the history we now know today.

         I thought the illustrations throughout this book were wonderful. Christensen has very realistic depictions throughout the book that brings the story to life. These illustrations are completed with what seems to be watercolors and ink pen. The majority of these illustrations are single page. If the illustration does cover both pages, the second page is just a background. This works well with the text as it is located on one page, usually blank or with very little illustration as mentioned.

      Through reading this book myself, I determined that this book is for use in older elementary classrooms. This conclusion is mainly due to the content covered as younger grades would not grasp some of the concepts. With that said, one of the first ways I would like to use this book within my own classroom would be within a social studies unit. I feel that this book would be a great addition to any unit involving amendments, court cases, equal justice, or suffrage as all of these aspects where included within this book. The second way I would use this book within my classroom would be a literature piece for Black History Month. I feel that Ida B. Wells played such a large part in our history that students need to learn about her story. A third way I feel that this book could be used within an elementary classroom would be in connection with biography instruction. Overall, I would definitely use this book within my classroom.