Freedom on the Menu

Freedom on the Menu by Carole Boston Weatherford and paintings by Jerome Lagarrigue.

Appropriate for Grades 3 to 5

Have you ever been to a place where you felt unwanted? Have you ever seen someone being treated differently and want to change it? Well, that was Connie’s life for a long time, she wasn’t able to do the things that others could because the color of her skin. Connie was mistreated and finally her family made a stand and helped her community.

In Freedom on the Menu, Connie, loves to shop downtown with her mother. When they feel tired and hot, they stop in at restaurant for a soda, they have to stand because African American cannot sit at the counter. Because segregation was at its prime she explains, “All over town, signs told Mama and me where we could and couldn’t go. Signs on water fountains, swimming pools, movie theaters, and even bathrooms.” Connie wants to have a banana split, but she can't, and she’s very upset by it. When her father says that Dr. King is coming to town, she watches as her brother and sister join the NAACP and participate in the Greensboro, NC, lunch counter sit-ins. Soon, Connie and her siblings get to sit down at the counter and have that banana split. An author's note at the end of the story talks about how this book is a true story, it also points out the hardships that the role young African Americans played in the struggle for civil rights.

In this historical fiction book, the paintings in this book are unbelievable, they depict the pervasive signs of a society where segregation was everywhere you look. The blurry effect that he adds makes it visualize what is going on at that time period as well as you can tell the age. The pictures also add detail to the signs that say, “We cater to white trade only,” or the different signs over water fountains where you get the sense of how segregated things were back in the day. The soft colors bring you right into the story were you can clearly visualize what is going on.

Weatherford really puts you right in the story and you can visualize your life through Connie’s eyes and seeing the hardships that she faced. Knowing that people faced this in their lives is very difficult to imagine in a world like today were there is no segregation. What I really liked about this story was that unlike most history books you are actually seeing the hardship through a little girls perspective whose family decided to do something to better their lives.

There are many different subjects to teaching using the picture book including, the Jim Crowe laws, the 1960’s sit ins, the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the impact of Dr. Martin Luther King in America. This would play in well around Martin Luther King Day. Children can relate to this story by discussing hardships that they might of faced as well as standing up for what they believe in.

Massachusetts ELA Frameworks

Key Ideas and Details & Integration of Knowledge and Ideas