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

Levinson tells the true story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, the youngest participant in the 1963 Birmingham Children's March. Growing up in Alabama, nine-year-old Audrey knows all about segregation as a way of life. And listening to the grownups talk at church, she hears hateful stories that make her squirm. When the visiting preacher--Martin Luther King Jr., known to Audrey's family as "Mike"--announces his plan for the congregation to fight segregation by marching and getting arrested, the adults demur. Then the idea for a Children's March is floated, and Audrey is eager to join in: "She was going to break a law and go to jail to help make things right." Levinson goes on to describe Audrey's week in jail, with its loneliness, bad food, boredom, and intimidation--it "was harder than she'd thought"--and her jubilation when she realizes that the Children's March has been a success. The well-paced text captures a child's voice and presents time and place realistically. Brightly colored digital collages clearly depict both the hopeful spirit and the rawer emotions of one community involved in the civil rights struggle; a double-page spread of Audrey curled up on a bare mattress in her jail cell is particularly effective. A timeline, sources, and recipe for "hot rolls baptized in butter" (Audrey's favorite food) are included; an author's note provides additional background. claudette s. mclinn