Claudette Colvin

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice moved along quickly with respect to plot. As it is a nonfiction book, the author was a bit more limited with the how’s, who’s, why’s, where’s, and when’s of the plot than Libba Bray was. But it was still a very readable book. The shifts from third to first person narration are nice as well because the reader gets a sense of almost having a conversation with Claudette. The setting itself creates a sense of tension, with segregation laws and customs creating conflict. And although racism and sexism are certainly alive and well today, what happened to Claudette is beyond what typically happens to today’s youth. The protagonist is certainly a strong female!

Because the author was writing about real people and real events, I’m sure that he had to be careful about what and how much he said. But I do think that the book would have been better if there had been deeper insight into some of the characters in the book. For example, what happened to Claudette’s other siblings? We know that Delphine died, but we know very little about Claudette’s other sisters. Also, some of the details were unclear regarding Claudette’s memory of being slapped for touching a white boy. Who slapped her? The woman is mentioned only as “Mary,” but Claudette’s birth mother was Mary Jane and her aunt/Mom was Mary Ann. I think it was her aunt since she mentions that she went to live with her when she was just a baby, but it’s still unclear.

While I understand that the book is about Claudette’s role in the bus boycott and civil rights, I think that I would have found Claudette a more accessible heroine had we seen more of her as a person. Did her baby’s father ever even know she had a child? What was Claudette’s relationship with her birth mother like? We know that she went to live with her for a short time when Claudette was pregnant, but there is really nothing at all about the two of them as people.