Growing up, I learned about Rosa Parks and always admired her bravery and her tenacity to stand up for what she knew was wrong.

However, whenever I read this, I just admired her even more!

She was so courageous and strong, even in the face of adversity. (Which at that time, I can only imagine how difficult it was.)

It’s so important to continue educating not only our children on these topics, but also ourselves.

The story of Rosa Parks should not just be shared to children, but it should be known to everyone, regardless of age, race, political or religious beliefs.


“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” -MLK JR.


Rosa Parks, thank you for NOT being silent about your seat on the bus.

Rosa Parks is a graphic novel of the story of Rosa Parks and how the Montgomery bus boycott was responsible for a major change to the equality of Black Americans. The story begins with a young black man getting into a cab. He was wearing a t-shirt with the "I Can't Breathe" logo on it and when the elderly cab driver asked him about it, he gave him attitude. The cab driver shares his story, as well as the meaning of the logo. That story is the story of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on the bus, getting arrested and the people organizing and carrying out the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott. With support of Reverend Martin Luther King, the people didn't back down and eventually segregated buses were illegal in the U.S. This was not easy as there were arrests, people beaten, KKK burning crosses etc. (although it is alluded to and not a major part of the story). I found this to be a well written graphic novel, with illustrations that were dark and foreboding adding to the seriousness of the issue. This is an important time in history, with this just being the tip of the iceberg. There are resources in the back for future reading and study as well as a brief biography of what happened to Rosa Parks after the fact. I would recommend this graphic novel to children 10 and up and think it would be a great one to have in libraries in middle and high schools.

Une très belle façon de découvrir l'histoire de Rosa Parks, cette femme courageuse qui a su s'imposer face à l'injustice de sa situation.
Une histoire qui malheureusement sonne encore vraie de nos jours.
Et les dessins sont très agréables à parcourir.

A beautiful graphic novel that weaves between the 1950’s era of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and 2014.

This story begins with a cab driver discussing his passengers t-shirt which reads, “I Can’t Breathe”. The driver passionately explains the weight of those words, the sacrifices made, and the pivotal role Rosa Parks played in changing history.

Pros:
It was illuminating to learn more about Rosa and how her courage and strength initiated the civil rights movement.
Cons:
The use of dreary, drab hues which I can only assume was on purpose to create the mood for such a heavy topic.

Thank you @NetGalley and @nbmgraphicnovels for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Rosa Parks is a graphic novel of the story of Rosa Parks and how her bus boycott made a change to black history.
The novel starts off with a cab driver and a young man in the back of his cab arguing. The young man has some serious attitude and the cabbie is trying to explain what the I CANT BREATHE logo on his t-shirt actually means. The story then goes into that of Rosa Parks and includes Martin Luthor King Jr too. The book itself is a little dark and grey throughout and I'm not sure if this was to create an effect for the time of the story. The illustrations were great but I felt there was something missing but cannot put my finger on it. This is an important story but I'm not too sure if most of this will go above most children's heads in this graphic novel.

I had a hard time putting this graphic novel down. I know this story well, but it was fun reading it in this context. The illustrations are amazing and really help bring the characters to life. This was an important moment in history, one that helped bring about great changes.

Unfortunately, I didnt have time to download this book, because I got accepted the day, they archived the book. I looked up the sample chapter on Amazon and the drawing style looks amazing and I'm bumped I didn't get to read this book.

Having heard so much about this brave woman in my time I was looking forward to reading this book.

It is an interesting way to tell the story and with the pictures it makes a good book for children to learn this interesting and historical story of life in a different time. It was blunt at times but it really did get a story across about how hard it was for people in these times.

I think this is a good way to learn the history of such events and I think it is great for readers of all ages as it is quite easy to read and follow but is sometimes hard due to its content.

I'd give it 3 1/2 stars and would recommend.

The Rosa Parks story is a historical event that is told throughout the ages. I felt this telling of the Rosa Park's story was dry and not engaging which does a disservice to the story. The characters and personalities were undersold.

I did not like this idea that the story is being told because a young man doesn't know who she is which is unbelievable. I felt like this was an unnecessary aspect of the story and the writer could have just started with Rosa's young life and written the story from that view to the end of her life.

The artwork was not my favourite style and I found the colouring to need some more work to show the variety of skin tones and characters.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel about Rosa Parks. I enjoyed learning more about the story of Rosa Parks and the struggles she endured. This is a good book to read and find out more about the history of the United States.

On December 1st 1955, a 42-year old black woman named Rosa Parks, took on bus 2857 for a ride home after work. She sits in the middle section of the bus but after a few stops, when a white passenger gets on the bus and the bus driver told her to move out of her seats as required by the rules,she refused to budge and her courageous and defiant action became the catalyst for one of the most important fights against segregations and one of the most influential bus boycott in history!. Her most famous quote,"i was not tired physically or no more tired than i usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old,although some people have an image of me being old then. I was forty-two. No,the only tired i was, was tired of giving in".

This graphic novel provides a glimpse into that fateful bus boycott incident,Rosa's and the NAACP's (The National Association For The Advancement Of The Colored People) involvement in the fight against oppressions and segregations by the White towards the Black people in the South. The format of the story takes on a rather roundabout way by introducing to other characters in a more recent year and in a modern setting,instead of jumping straight on to Rosa's story and the year of great segregations and oppressions,the story begin with an old black taxi driver was telling about his life story in Montgomery back in the year of the 1950's to a young black man.

Then, slowly the story unfolds through the old black man's parents coincidentally met with Rosa Parks and her husband, Raymond at the church on September 1952 (this incident and the old black man's family characters however are fictional characters added to give the story a different take as this novel is still a work of fiction/a fictional biography). Starting from then onwards, the readers are introduced to Rosa's story. Rather than covering the whole story about Rosa's life and involvement, this graphic novel only focuses on a few of her major involvement and contributions for the black people of the South as a secretary of the NAACP,particularly focusing on the bus segregations and bus boycott incidents,where Rosa is widely known for. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr's character is also included in the story as one of the most important and influential figures fighting towards the rights and the advancements of the black people.

I believe the main intended audience of this graphic novel is for the youngsters and the teenagers. Therefore, the story is revealed in a more tone down, subdued manner and positive light minus the violent scenes whereby we all know how very badly the black people were treated and had suffered in those days. Even, the cuss words are dimmed.
One of the main objectives of this novel is to create awareness and to educate,the young and ignorant people on why this issue (racism and segregation is still very important to be addressed and still relevant and occuring even until today in recent time,as we can see many cases of police brutality against black people,for example like the case of Eric Gardner,etc.

Overall, this novel is okay if you want to get an overview and a general story about Rosa,NAACP, the bus segregations issue and the Civil-Rights Movement. However, for more in-depth read,i would suggest anyone to read an biography penned by Rosa herself title Rosa Parks: My Story as a supplementary reading.

The only thing that is not to my liking is the illustrations of this graphic novel which i find confusing. I keep mixing up and getting confused with the black mother and daughter character as the daughter looks rather old for a supposed to be a young woman! and sometimes even the black young boys character faces look as old as their fathers!. I even had some issue with the tone colour and facial features between the black and the white people,for some parts they look rather similar with each other until i hardly can tell them apart from each other. Perhaps, you might want to improve more on the illustrations part in the future.

Still,this a very inspiring story which is relevant at any time and for anyone,especially in fighting for our rights,respect and equality. All lives matter and everyone deserves to be treated better regardless what but respect needs to be earned. I felt an honour to get to know about this courageous and remarkable icon of the Civil-Rights Movement. She truly deserves the highest honours and awards for all her hard work and endless dedications. May her story inspire everyone in standing up against oppressions,injustices and unfair treatments.

"I have spent over half my life teaching love and brotherhood, and i feel that it is better to continue to try to teach or live equality and love than it would be to have hatred and prejudice. Everyone living together in peace and harmony and love that's the goal that we seek, and i think that the more people there are who reach that state of mind, the better we will all be" (Rosa Parks: My Story).

I rated this book a 3.5🌟 out of 5, rounded up to 4🌟.

Thank you Papercutz,NBM Publishing for this review copy.

This book is done in graphic novel format. I thought starting the book out in a more present day time and then telling the story from the memory of one of the characters was a unique way to approach it. There are a lot of books about Rosa Parks available, but this one is unique in its own way.

If you're anything like me, your first thought about this book is going to be "do we really need another book about Rosa Parks". She was basically the only figure of the Civil Rights movement I learned about in school apart from MLK. But it doesn't take much research to realize that the picture of Rosa Parks we were given was an inaccurate one. We were shown Rosa as a quiet, unassuming woman who was just tired one day, becoming an icon by happenstance. This book introduces us to Rosa Parks the Revolutionary, a woman who with calm intention set out to change the world. And Pesce and Mancini tie the bus boycotts into the modern social movements, viewing BLM as the direct descendant of MLK and the Black Panthers. It's beautifully illustrated, though text heavy, and leaves the reader with plenty to think about.

I thoroughly enjoyed how this was set up and put together.
I thought the way the story was told was so interesting and engaging. Setting it in more modern day before going into the story was very clever. Having the narrator be someone who was close to what happened made it feel even more personal.
This is a story everyone knows. Everyone has heard of Rosa Parks, everyone knows what she did that day on the bus. However, for me, this gave so much more to the story. There was a lot that happened that I never realised and I felt that this graphic novel told it in a way that was honestly, beautiful

#netgalleyarc I’m really loving that there are more historical themed graphic novels available and this one did not disappoint. It was a shirt but well written read and the illustrations were awesome. I’m a big proponent of getting students engaged in learning history in any way possible and graphic novels makes it much easier and more fun. I’ll definitely be purchasing this for my high school library.

I havent read an illustrated book like this for a number of years!!

Saying that, it was beautifully illustrated, easy to follow and explained a very important storyline - in an engaging way with a modern day twist.

I enjoyed the book and devoured it quickly. I absolutely would look to read other books in this style by these authors and illustrators.

Thanks to #NetGalley for a copy of this in exchange for a review of #RosaParks

The story of Rosa Parks should be known by everyone, regardless of age, race or political or religious beliefs, since the fight of Mrs. Parks, as well as the fight of Reverend King and many others, is about equality between all beings. after all, the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes that "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
Unfortunately, there are currently groups that claim these rights only for certain individuals or races, establishing in a frighteningly similar way to Hitler the superiority of one race over the others...
I hope that after reading this book, we will understand that actually, all lives matter.

A great historical read. I only knew the basics one line of Rosa Parks not leaving her seat. I liked learning more information of her life through this graphic novel.

**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of Rosa Parks by Matteo Mancini and Mariapaola Pesce through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.

Rosa Parks by Matteo Mancini and Mariapaola Pesce is a historical graphic novel about Rosa Parks and her refusal to leave her seat on the bus, and the events leading up to that moment.  It was published on February 1st, 2022.  I rated it four stars on Goodreads.


Here's the summary from Goodreads:

Montgomery, Alabama, December 1, 1955: at the end of the working day, 42-year-old Rosa Parks, a black leather dressmaker, takes bus 2857, heading home. She sits in a center row, but when a white passenger gets on after a few stops, the driver asks her to get up to give him her seat, as required by the rules. Rosa knows them well: the blacks sit in the back, the whites in front, while the center seats are mixed and can only be used if all the others are occupied, but the whites retain priority. "No," Rosa replies without thinking too much, she doesn't intend to get up. That simple refusal turns her into a heroine of black rights, engaged in the fight against segregation that oppresses Alabama and other southern states, becoming the propellant of the historic bus boycott in Montgomery led by Martin Luther King. This is her story shown in a context of why it is still so resonant today.

As a Canadian, I don't necessarily know a lot about American history but there are always bits that get through and that I have learned about over the years.  The story of Rosa Parks was one that I vaguely knew of and was interested in learning more about.  So when I saw this graphic novel on NetGalley, I thought it would be a good one to request.

I found this graphic novel really informative.  There was a lot of detail included, but it was presented in a really informative way.  You weren't overwhelmed with detail and then lost out on information.   It was really nice in that way.

I really enjoyed the art of the graphic novel.  It had a really lovely design for the characters and the colours were really beautiful.  It's a really beautifully illustrated story.  The characters are clear in who they are, and I'm really impressed with the art in general.

The story was really well structured as well.  They told the story of Rosa Parks in hindsight, through the structure of a cab driver educating his younger passenger about Rosa's story and the history of the civil rights movement.  It waws a really good way of passing along the story.

If you're interested in the story, I highly recommend that you check it out.

This is a fantastic addition to any library's graphic novel collection! Perfect for middle school and high school, but adults will also find this title appealing. This is a quick read, but it packs a powerful story in its pages. I love that the story was told by the characters and their actions and there wasn't need for additional descriptive test.