A little more than a year ago I reviewed the first March book. You can read that review here. The review copy that I received is only one-quarter of the full book, but I think it’s safe to say that Book 2 is every bit as powerful and inspiring as was Book 1.
As I write this, the rioting in Baltimore is making headline news around the country and since I reviewed the first book, there have been tremendously horrible deaths of black men in police custody around the country that have been making news. This series of books by John Lewis seem ever more important to remind the country … the world … of the struggles for equality that have already taken place, and how far we still have to go.
It is amazing the fortitude that people have to resist peacefully, to take continued beatings, and to return to the peaceful protests. If it doesn’t move the reader to see (literally ‘see’ since this is a graphic novel) people stand in line to buy movie tickets, told that the won’t be served because of their skin color, and then return to the end of the line to do it again, and finally get beaten for it … then the reader lacks any sort of human empathy.
And what more can you ask from any book, graphic or otherwise, than to move the reader and to inform the reader. This does both, extremely well. And just as the first time, the art is a perfect enhancement for the story.
You can’t go wrong with this, and I hope it will become standard reading in schools all across the country.
Looking for a good book? March, Book 2 continues the historical look at the struggles of African-Americans to be recognized as humans and equals in the United States and does so in a nearly perfect manner that will be read, enjoyed, and understood by adults as well as children.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
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March: Book Two
authors: John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
artist: Nate Powell
publisher: Top Shelf Productions
ISBN: 1603094008
paperback, 192 pages
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