This book brought tears to my eyes. I didn't know what to expect when I began reading, especially that it's written in the form of poetry. As I continued reading the story, the one question that I kept asking was, "what's the little girl's name"? The author did a fantastic job not only educating the reader on who Mr. Rosenwald was, but the author just nailed it with the last words in the book, "Yours truly, Ovella." The way the author wrapped up the story was brilliant. Mr. Rosenwald funded schools for slave children, and he had stipulations that the white community needed to contribute as well in the development of these schools. He helped provide books, desks, and, most importantly, hope to children who had thought their future was on a field picking cotton - being slaves. Mr. Rosenwald gave Ovella, the little girl in the story, the opportunity to dream to one day become a teacher and educate others. I truly loved this book, and I will introduce this book to a class of mine soon. ( )

This story is told by an African-American girl named Ovella, who lives in poverty. She currently goes to a one-room school, but their church is raising money to build a bigger and better school for all of the children to go to, along with getting help from the Mr. Rosenwald foundation. At the end of the book, the school is built and the first lesson given to the students is letter writing, where each student must write a letter to Mr. Rosenwald thanking him.

This book was set in the early 1920s in the South of the United States. This setting clarifies the conflict of the story, not having a sufficient school for students due to living in poverty as an African American.

Although it is very sweet and informative, it's not really my type. I think this book would have a lot better flow if it weren't written in chapters. All in all, I would still recommend reading this book to your students to give them a glimpse of what this time period was like. ( )

This book is a great historical glimpse into an era from which we are not too far removed from. Adults and children will benefit from this creative storytelling. ( )

A good book to teach about diversity and African American history. Very good illustrations and i think this book would be great in a social studies classroom. ( )

I would definitely recommend this book to any history teacher. The story is told through the perspective of a child in the in the 1920's. Ovella went to school in an old church and did not take her ability to be able to have an education for granted. She got together with her community and raised enough money to build a brand new school with the help of a donor named Mr. Rosenwald. This book would be great for students learning about slavery and segregation to understand the struggles that African Americans faced. ( )