Sylvia & Aki [Paperback]

Young Sylvia Mendez never expected to be at the center of a landmark legal battle. Young Aki Munemitsu never expected to be sent away from her home and her life as she knew it. The two girls definitely never expected to know each other, until their lives intersected on a Southern California farm in a way that changed the country forever. Who are Sylvia and Aki? And why did their family stories matter then and still matter today? This book reveals the remarkable, never-before-told story—based on true events—of Mendez vs. Westminster School District, the California court case that desegregated schools for Latino children and set the stage for Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education at the national level.WINIFRED CONKLING studied journalism at Northwestern University and spent the next 25 years writing nonfiction for adult readers, including articles forConsumer Reportsmagazine and more than 30 nonfiction books. As part of her transition to writing for young people, she is working toward her Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.Sylvia & Akiis her first work for children.Sylvia:
    Excuse me, ma’am, Aunt Soledad said to the secretary. May I have several more forms? For my brother’s children?
   The woman stopped typing again. She looked at Sylvia and her brothers as if noticing them for the first time. Are these your children?
    No, Aunt Soledad said. These two are mine. She rested one hand on Alice’s shoulder and the other on Virginia’s. They’ll be entering third and fourth grade. Sylvia looked at her cousins. They had fair skin and wore their long wavy brown hair in tight curls tied back from their faces with navy ribbons.
    These are my brother’s children, Aunt Soledad said, gesturing at Sylvia and her two brothers, all three alike with warm brown skinl.