Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood

The Hook: 

The closing of her neighborhood pool opens 11-year-old Glory’s eyes to the ugliness of racism in Mississippi,1964.   

Glory can’t believe it…the pool is closing right before the Fourth of July, and it just so happens to be her birthday too!!  They say it is because the pool needs “repairs” but it is really because some people—The Freedom Workers from the North—are shaking things up.  They are trying to desegregate the pool allowing Black people to swim there too.  Some people don’t like it.  So instead of desegregating and allowing Black people to swim there, they just close the pool altogether.  

Glory meets one of the Freedom Workers—a 12-year-old girl named Laura—who is fighting for the rights of Blacks--and now Glory becomes an activist too when she writes a letter to the newspaper about all the hateful prejudice.   

This is a memorable novel about racism—how far we’ve come and how far we still need to go in our nation.  It’s also about family, friendship, and choices that are not always easy.   

Glory Be is in our library and it’s also in Sora as an audio book.  It is worth 5 AR points. 

My Thoughts (Careful! There May Be Spoilers): 

I like that this book has several characters with differing perspectives which Glory acknowledges. She then wrangles her thoughts and feelings up against what she hears and comes to her own conclusions. There is Frankie, Glory’s best friend and daughter of the bigoted town council member, Jesslyn, Glory’s big sister, and then Laura who visits the town with her mom who is setting up a free clinic. This book shows America’s struggle for equal rights but in the narrow lens of a young girl who is developing more awareness of the world around her with integrity. This is great book for students learning about the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. 4.3 stars 

My Recommendation: 

This book is only 202 pages. I would recommend it for 4th-6th grades and reluctant readers in 7th and 8th.