All of us should be familiar with Rosa Parks and the courageous decision she made in 1955. Her refusal to give up her seat to a white man, which led to her arrest and later to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, is a well-treaded part of the Civil Rights Movement’s history.

That familiar story is given new life in the children’s book Rosa. Written by famed poet and Virginia Tech English professor Nikki Giovanni, it takes the historic account and presents it in an easily-digested yet empowering format for young readers.

Giovanni used the flowing words of poetry and deft storytelling to bring the story to live, giving readers a sense of what’s going on inside the head of the main characters.

Here’s a sample:

As Mrs. Parks sat waiting for the police to come, she thought of all the brave men and women, boy and girls who stood tall for civil rights. She recited the 1954 Brown versus Board of Education decision, in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that separate is “inherently unequal.” She was tired of “Colored” entrances, “Colored” balconies, “Colored” drinking fountains and “Colored” taxis. She was tired of getting somewhere first and being waited on last. Tired of “separate,” and definitely tired of “not equal.”

The fourth and fifth-grade students I read this book to recently at Winchester Elementary School were big fans of this book, as were their teachers. Rosa features bold, beautiful illustrations by Bryan Collier that add dimension to the story.

Giovanni manages to tell the painful truth of our nation’s segregated past in a way children can understand and adults can appreciate.

The last lines of the book are among its most powerful:

“The integrity, the dignity, the quiet strength of Rosa Parks turned her no into a YES for change.”

Place this one on the book list for your children if you want to take a trip through history.