Melba Patillo Beals: Warriors Don't Cry (Abridged)

This is another book that I use in my classroom. My 10th-grade students enjoy this story. I've read this book a few times, and I enjoy it more every time I read it.

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals tells the true story of her experience integrating Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Melba was a normal teenage girl. She had friends, went to class, got good grades. She had a tight-knit family at home. Her life was forever changed when she put her name down on a list of students to possibly integrate Central High School. Melba went from a normal school to what she describes as a battlefield. She had to be escorted to every class by a soldier from the U.S. military, she had to watch every corner and staircase, she was beaten, spit upon, and yelled at, and even had segregationists calling her home to try and scare her out of going to school.

This book is another narrative that is particularly sensitive in the current climate of racial tensions. I also think this is a powerful reminder of how strong hatred can be, especially when it's the norm.

I love the way Melba tells this story. She highlights many of the things that are important to her: God and her family. Her narrative captures the horrific experiences of integration.

This is another book that is difficult to nit-pick. I don't know that I really have any issues with the telling of this story. It's well-paced and interesting. Beals uses newspaper headlines to remind readers that this was not only her perspective and to give insight into how it was being perceived across the nation. It's fascinating in a few places to see the headlines clash directly with how the Little Rock 9 were being treated.

As the title of this post says, I've only read the abridged version of this memoir. I am curious to eventually read the unabridged edition.

In all, I rate this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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