Ruth and the Green Book
Age 7+
Picture Books
The Green Books tells the story of a little known part of the history of African American experience at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement with words by a accalimed playwright Calvin Ramsey and illustrations from CSK winner Floyd Cooper.
The Green Book is the story of one black family's trip from Chicago to Alabama by car in the late 40s. They encounter prejudice, but they also discover The Green Book, which was a real guide to accomodations published for decades to aid African-American travelers as they faced prejudice on the roads across the country. Written with Gwen Strauss.
Creators
Award-winning Atlanta playwright CALVIN ALEXANDER RAMSEY concentrates on what he calls ""unknown pages in African-American history."" Ramsey's plays include Bricktop, and Shermantown, Baseball, Apple Pie, and the Klan. His adult play The Green Book, about a guidebook listing places where black travelers were welcome in the South during the Jim Crow era, was performed in 2007 at the Carter Center., Gwen Strauss is the author of several books for young readers. Her first, a book of poems called Trail of Stones, with illustrations by Anthony Browne, was published in 1990. Her second book, The Night Shimmy, also with Browne, has been translated into six languages. Strauss's poems, short stories and essays have appeared in numerous places including The London Sunday Times, The New Republic, New England Review, Kenyon Review, Tampa Review and Antioch Review. She works as assistant director at the Brown Foundation Fellowship Program at the Dora Maar House in Menerbes, France.
Floyd Cooper is a Coretta Scott King Award winner and the illustrator of Ruth and the Green Book. Floyd received a degree in fine arts from the University of Oklahoma. He lives in Easton, Pennsylvania.
