The Sunday outing Book

The Sunday Outing was written and illustrated by the Pinkney's, an African American couple, with Mr. Pinkey winning the Coretta Scott King award. The book follows a young African American girl named Ernestine who is going to her special place. This time she is going all alone, and on the way she comes across some difficulties based on the color of her skin because this book takes place during the time of segregation. By the end of the book Ernestine makes it to her special place, the library, one of the only places she feels safe and free because it doesn't matter what color your skin is to be allowed inside. When I first started reading the book I didn't know that it was about a girl living in segregation, but when I say how unfair she was being treated it made me reflect on how I am treated now as a mixed race woman of color. I empathized with Ernestine and I was upset at just how unfair some of the characters in the book were treating her. This book would be great to use in a second to fifth grade classroom to teach about segregation in a subtle but important way.