March, Book One

This is the first of a three-part memoir, written by Congressman John Lewis. It covers his early life, from his childhood raising chickens on a farm, through meeting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and his work helping to organize and participate in the Nashville sit-ins as a college student. Lewis is a major figure from the Civil Rights movement, and his choice to present his memoir in graphic novel form makes it much more accessible to a wider audience.

The story is framed through the present - or the recent past anyway. On the morning of Obama's first inauguration, Lewis meets a pair of young boys in his office and tells them the story of his life. It's a neat way to position him as both hero and human, someone who can and should be emulated. And the framing (and what has happened since) helps drive in both how far the country has come and how far it still has to go.

I was really moved by this story, frequently blinking back tears. It went really quick, as graphic memoirs tend to. The format is well used and, as I said, makes the story very accessible. I'll have to track down the other two volumes soon. This is definitely the sort of book I want on my shelf as my kid starts to grow up. It'll be a good entry point for him to start talking about the Civil Rights movement.