Through My Eyes by: Ruby Bridges (non-fiction)

This autobiography gives readers incredible insight for what it was like for six year old Ruby Bridges to be one of the first black students to attend an all-white elementary school in the deep south. Bridges gives a detailed account of the events leading up to her tremendous transition into a new school, as well describing her thoughts of loneliness and isolation once she enrolled in the new school. She speaks of the power of courage and prayer to combat adversity.

This book can be used in conjunction with The Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles. While the Coles version may be more suitable for younger grades (K-2), this book includes letters, newspaper excerpts, and photographs from 1961. I would use this book to emphasize the importance of accepting differences in people and that differences are not valid reasons for unequal treatment among individuals. On a more historical note, Bridges' account presents outside events that places her experience into context with the civil rights movement on a greater scale. The final pages of the book also include a timeline of major events of the "civil rights movement and where new orleans school integration fits in" (55).