I Want Freedom Now!

Civil rights icon Claudette Colvin teams up with Phillip Hoose--author of the Newbery Honor and National Book Award-winning blockbuster biography Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice--to tell her groundbreaking story in this unforgettable picture book illustrated by New York Times-bestselling artist Bea Jackson.

Montgomery, Alabama 1955. Fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin is tired. Tired of white people thinking they're better than her. Tired of going to separate schools and separate bathrooms. Most of all, she's tired of having to give up her seat on the bus whenever a white person tells her to. She wants freedom NOW! But what can one teenager do?

On a bus ride home from school one day, young Claudette takes a stand for justice and refuses to get up from her seat--nine months before Rosa Parks will become famous for doing the same. What follows will not only transform Claudette's life but the course of history itself.

In the words of Claudette Colvin herself, as told to acclaimed nonfiction writer Phillip Hoose, this empowering, heroic story illustrates how one simple act of courage can create real and lasting change.

Claudette Colvin is a civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her bus seat led to the Montgomery bus boycott and helped bring an end to segregation on buses throughout the South.

Phillip Hoose is an award-winning author whose other works include the picture book Hey, Little Ant and the nonfiction books Duet; The Race to Save the Lord God Bird; The Boys Who Challenged Hitler; and We Were There, Too!, a National Book Award finalist. He lives in Portland, Maine.

Bea Jackson is a concept and character artist and an illustrator. In addition to her work that appears on book and comics covers and in magazines and articles, she has also created the artwork for numerous children's books, including Parker Looks Up, a New York Times bestseller and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Children's Literary Work nominee; Parker Shines On; and Our Beautiful Colors.