THE ROSA LESSON.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

Rosa By Nikki Giovanni; illustrated by Bryan Collier (Holt, $16.95)

This richly illustrated book was timed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' Dec. 1, 1955, arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man.

The prize-winning author-illustrator team wanted to ensure that today's young readers understand how this act spawned a successful boycott of the Montgomery, Ala., bus system and the entire 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

But ``Rosa'' also wound up coming out the same month that "The Mother of the Movement" died.

You might think the flurry of front page publicity over Parks' death - including her lying in state at the U.S. Capitol - would have versed children in the nuances of her life.

But a group of local fifth-graders' reactions to the book show that this volume still has much to teach.

Before members of Debbie Miller's mixed-race fifth-grade class at Magnet Arts Alternative School critiqued the book for The Register-Guard, Miller agreed to ask her students to briefly write what they knew of the Civil Rights icon.

"I do not know anything about Rosa Parks," two students wrote, while several others wrote sentences such as, "I think she was famous and that's all I know."

After reading the book aloud together, however, the 19 students were more versed in and enthusiastic about Parks' contributions to American life.

At first glance, "Rosa" appears to be a picture book for beginning readers, with its mix of text and full-page illustrations.

However, the vocabulary is more suitable for older elementary students. And none of Miller's fifth-graders found the pictures babyish.

"It kind of makes the book seem more realistic," said Karli Lind, 10. "You look at the pictures, and it makes it more clear."

"The first time I heard about what Rosa Parks did, I didn't really understand because black people and white people are the same," agreed Sarah Southworth, 11.

Dakota Haugen, 10, said her class recently rode the city bus, and Collier's warm illustrations helped drive home how different that experience was for African-Americans 50 years ago.

``If it weren't for her not giving up her seat for the white man, I don't think I'd be allowed to ride in the front seat behind the bus driver,'' agreed Christina Bolden, 11.

"It tells people that without Rosa, blacks would still have to be bossed around, and have to do what the whites say," added Javonte Hughes, 10.

Like many of Miller's students, Spencer Butte Middle School student Kati Duffy was fascinated by the book's color palette.

"The illustrations occasionally added a yellow-gold `ring' around Rosa's head, looking a bit like a halo," said Kati, who helped prepare this story as part of a mentorship project.

"They put yellow on people's faces, too, to show where the light came from, and made the backgrounds almost abstract. They added to the impact of the book."

In an illustrator's note, Bryan Collier said he used a "yellow, sometimes dark, hue" to convey the heat of Alabama and foreshadow the rising emotions of the coming civil rights struggle.

"Rosa" may be inappropriate for younger children because the text describes violent aspects of that struggle, several of Miller's students said.

"I kind of felt sad when they talked about the kid that was hung," said Kaleb Cruz, 10.

Miller called that part of the book "pretty disturbing."

"We had to take a breath there," she said. ``Most of the students had never heard the word `lynch.' ''

"Some younger kids might be scared by that," said Fletcher Herring, 10.

Rose Sabini, 10, questioned the inclusion of "the lynching part."

"We were talking about Rosa, and it didn't fit in," she said.

"Rosa" hints that Parks' act was no impulsive gesture because her feet hurt after a long day of work.

It notes that she was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People even before her arrest.

But Stacey Glemboski, Miller's student teacher, said the book could have made that previous activism clearer.

"I felt it was a bit misleading by portraying Rosa Parks as meeker than she was," she said. "For instance, it was her second time (refusing to give up her bus seat) when she got arrested."

Javonte agreed, saying he had known "for a long time" that Parks was a civil rights organizer before her famous stand on the bus.

"I've done a couple plays about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King," he said. "They weren't afraid to do what was right, even if they got caught. They took risks."

But the book's impact was clear from two comments written by Kim Eldredge,10, before and after the class read the book.

"I think Rosa Parks has something to do with school," she wrote before reading "Rosa."

After, she turned in another statement to Miller for extra credit.

``Rosa Parks was the African-American woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man 50 years ago,'' she wrote. ``She would have given up her seat to a child or an elderly person, but was not going to give it up for a racist white man. As you can see, Rosa Parks was not afraid to stand up for herself ... Thank you Rosa Parks!!!!!!!!''

CAPTION(S):

Bryan Collier's illustrations augment Nikki Giovanni's story of Rosa Park's defiant stand in 1955. ``Rosa'' was being published this fall to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest, but it ended up also coming out just as Parks died this month.