The story of one family's journey north during the Great Migration starts with a little girl in South Carolina who finds a rope under a tree one summer. She has no idea the rope will become part of her family's history. But for three generations, that rope is passed down, used for everything from jump rope games to tying suitcases onto a car for the big move north to New York City, and even for a family reunion where that first little girl is now a grandmother.
Newbery Honor-winning author Jacqueline Woodson and Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator James Ransome use the rope to frame a thoughtful and moving story as readers follow the little girl's journey. During the time of the Great Migration, millions of African American families relocated from the South, seeking better opportunities. With grace and poignancy, Woodson's lilting storytelling and Ransome's masterful oil paintings of country and city life tell a rich story of a family adapting to change as they hold on to the past and embrace the future.
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Published: 08/29/2013
Pages: 32
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 11.00h x 9.10w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9780399239861
Audience: Ages 4-8
Accelerated Reader:Reading Level: 3.6
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 160741 / This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration
Award: Charlotte Zolotow Award - Honor Book
Award: Black-Eyed Susan Award - Nominee
Award: Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens - Recommended
Award: Keystone to Reading Book Award - Nominee
Award: North Carolina Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award - Honor Book
Award: South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award - Nominee
Award: Nevada Young Readers' Award - Nominee
Award: Kentucky Bluegrass Award - Nominee
Review Citation(s): Kirkus Reviews 01/01/0001
Publishers Weekly 05/20/2013
Kirkus Bea Big Book Guide 05/15/2013 pg. 57
Horn Book Magazine 07/01/2013 pg. 118
School Library Journal 07/01/2013 pg. 75
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2013
Booklist 06/01/2013 pg. 111
New York Times Book Review 08/25/2013 pg. 14
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 10/01/2013 pg. 126
PW Best Children's Books 11/11/2013 pg. 23
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/08/2013 pg. 35
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2014 - Superior,Well Above Average
About the AuthorJacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the recipient of a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children's Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People's Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for her
New York Times bestselling memoir
Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult books
Red at the Bone, a
New York Times bestseller, and
Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include Coretta Scott King Award winner
Before the Ever After; New York Times bestsellers
The Day You Begin and
Harbor Me;
The Other Side,
Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor book
Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners
Feathers,
Show Way, and
After Tupac and D Foster; and
Miracle's Boys, which received the
LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and a two-time winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
James Ransome (www.jamesransome.com) has illustrated more than fifty books for children and won the Coretta Scott King Award for
The Creation (by James Weldon Johnson). His work has also earned him a Coretta Scott King Honor, IBBY Honour, ALA Notable, NAACP Image Award, Bank Street Best Book of the Year, and Rip Van Winkle Award. He lives in upstate New York with his wife, author Lesa Cline-Ransome, and their family.