Abby Takes a Stand

A historical chapter book series from three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner and Newbery Honor author, Patricia C. McKissack.

Why has their grandmother bothered keeping a menu from a restaurant that closed years ago, a restaurant that never served very good food in the first place? Three cousins listen to Gee’s own story, set in the early days of lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville, a time when a black child could sit up front in a city bus but still could not get a milk shake at a downtown restaurant. Through the eyes of ten-year-old Abby, young readers see what it was like to live through those days, and they’ll come to understand that, like a menu, freedom is about having choices. Each book in this series tells the story behind a different “scrap of time”; together they form a patchwork quilt of one black family’s past that stretches back for generations.

“A perfect introduction to an extraordinary time when regular people, even ten-year-old girls, make a difference.” —The Horn Book

“The book gives readers a kid’s-eye view of important happenings and reminds them that history is something that is in the making.” —Booklist