Cynthia Levinson

Children’s Writer & Presenter

Specializing in Nonfiction

IRA Young Adult Nonfiction Award
Jane Addams Book Award
SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction (Honor Book)
NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children (Honor Book)
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults (Finalist)
American Library Association: Notable Children’s Book
Julia Ward Howe Book Award (Finalist)
Parents’ Choice: Gold Medal
California Reading Association: Eureka! Gold Medal for Nonfiction
Massachusetts Must-Read Book
IRA Notable Books for a Global Society
Society of School Librarians International (Honor Book for Social Studies K-6; Best Book for Social Studies 7-12)
Junior Library Guild Selection
Scholastic Book Club
American Booksellers Association’s New Voices
Named one of the best children’s books published in 2012 by:

“…riveting, significant work of nonfiction.”

The New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

Enter the portal to
We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March

Click the play button below to listen to the song ”We’ve Got a Job” sung by the Birmingham Movement Choir!*
*by permission, not to be duplicated or transferred

Be sure to check out both Peachtree’s We’ve Got a Job website and Peachtree’s We’ve Got a Job Pinterest board. They’re very informative and fascinating!

STUDENTS: You can meet the marchers, listen to songs, read primary-source documents, learn how I wrote the book, watch videos–including a trailer produced by fourth-graders–and more.

TEACHERS: You can find Curriculum Guides, Common Core ELA Standards Connections, Lesson Plans, Discussion Questions, Ideas for Uneasy Readers, primary-source documents, and both print and video interviews about how I researched and wrote We’ve Got a Job.

Everyone:

Watch VIDEOS of Washington Booker III and James W. Stewart.
Watch a VIDEO ABOUT NONVIOLENCE that I delivered as a YALSA honoree at the American Library Association.
Read and watch INTERVIEWS with me about researching and writing We’ve Got a Job.
Read REVIEWS, including four STARRED reviews.
See photos from book launches.

You can buy a hard copy or the audio version (or both!) of We’ve Got a Job through Barnes and Noble, an independent bookseller, or Amazon or through Scholastic Book Club.

Anniversary of the Children's March

Birmingham, 50 years ago: May 24, 1963: Bull Connor had no office to return to. James Stewart celebrated by returning to school.

2013 is the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham Children's March. Throughout this year, I will post events that occurred 50 years ago on that date. If you would like me to visit your school or library during this historic year, please contact me.

The City of Birmingham is observing the anniversary of the events through a series of programs called 50 Years Forward. I encourage you to visit the website--and the city. The Birmingham Public Library is hosting Read it Forward, which features We've Got a Job in a community-wide reading program. In addition, on September 21, 2013, the Alabama Symphony will debut an orchestral piece accompanied by the children's choir from Sixteenth Street Baptist Church; the choir's songs will include quotations from We've Got a Job.

Alabama Public Radio produced a wonderful anniversary program with Wash Booker and James Stewart.

On April 16, the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's writing "Letter from Birmingham Jail," I was pleased to join a class of fourth- and fifth-graders in Round Rock, Texas, who were filmed while reading an abbreviated version of the letter. We did so along with over 140 other schools and libraries for an observance planned by Jim Baggett, the wonderful archivist at the Birmingham Public Library.