Teen Review: March: Book Two

March: Book Two
by John Robert Lewis and Andrew Aydin, artist Nate Powell

Overall Rating: 5/5
Plot: 5
Characters: 5
Writing: 5

This title is the second in a planned trilogy of nonfiction graphic novels following the life of Congressman John Robert Lewis and his activities during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The story progresses through flashbacks with Lewis' narrative descriptions and storytelling interspersed with flash-forward sequences centered on President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony.

I am wildly in love with this series for a variety of reasons. I am personally very much a product of my culture and time period. I grew up in the 80s and 90s in an entirely white area of northern Michigan. My American history was focused mostly on the Civil War and WWII. I have a smattering of information about what happened during the Civil Rights Movement, but mostly, I admit that I have no idea. None at all.

This graphic novel series has helped me realize how little I actually know. I didn't know about the Freedom Riders. I didn't know what they went through, the choices they made, the way political and social decisions shaped the movement. I don't know anything about it and reading this and it's predecessor makes me both ashamed that I know so little and ravenous to learn more. This is part of American history that we should not be ignorant of and I am profoundly grateful that these graphic novels are making that history easily accessible to the public, both young and old.

The artwork is fantastic, the writing is accessible and easily understood. The subject matter is graphic in the violent and bloody sense of the word, but there's a reason for that: this period of history was violent and bloody; people called each other horrible words and they are present in this book. But to remove those aspects from this history would be to make the struggle pretty, take away the gritty reality that was a real life-and-death struggle for black Americans.

I can't wait for the next book. And while I wait, I'm going to do more reading. I feel that I owe the Freedom Riders that much.