Opening the Road

Opening the Roadicon

Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book

by Keila V. Dawson

Illustrated by Alleanna Harris

Publisher
Beaming Books
Publication
Jan 26, 2021
Format
Hardback
Illustrated
Yes
Price
19.99
Dimensions
8.75 x 10.25 in
ISBN
9781506467917
Pages
40
Age
4 - 8 years
Category
Illustrated Picture BooksBiographiesGeneral Juvenile Nonfiction

Rights Sold

*DropCap does not represent English EBook (Worldwide) language rights

Description

During a time when taking a trip across the nation could be dangerous for Black Americans, one man crafted a guide that changed the lives of millions. A 2025 Choose to Read Ohio title In the late 1930s when segregation was legal and Black Americans couldn't visit every establishment or travel everywhere they wanted to safely, a New Yorker named Victor Hugo Green decided to do something about it. Green wrote and published a guide that listed places where his fellow Black Americans could be safe in New York City. The guide sold like hot cakes! Soon customers started asking Green to make a guide to help them travel and vacation safely across the nation too. With the help of his mail carrier co-workers and the African American business community, Green's guide allowed millions of African Americans to travel safely and enjoy traveling across the nation. In the first picture book about the creation and distribution of The Green Book, author Keila Dawson and illustrator Alleanna Harris tell the story of the man behind it and how this travel guide opened the road for a safer, more equitable America.

Awards & Endorsements

Nancy Churnin, award-winning author of Manjhi Moves a Mountain and The William Hoy Story
"In Opening the Road, author Keila Dawson opens children's eyes to the dangers of segregation and the power of the human spirit to resist and find detours around injustice." 

Author(s)

Keila V. Dawson

Keila V. Dawson

Keila V. Dawson is an award-winning author who writes fiction and nonfiction children’s books. She is coeditor and contributor to No Brain the Same and its award-winning companion titles, No World Too Big and No Voice Too Small. Dawson is the author of Yumbo Gumbo, a 2025 NSTA-CBC title; Opening the Road: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book, a 2025 Choose to Read Ohio booklist selection; and The King Cake Baby. A New Orleans native, Dawson worked as an educator and advocate for children with learning difficulties and disabilities in different states and abroad in the Philippines, Japan, and Egypt. When she isn’t reading, writing, and visiting schools, she’s traveling or digging in genealogical archives.

Illustrator(s)

Alleannna Harris

Alleannna Harris

Alleanna Harris is a illustrator who has been drawing for as long as she can remember. As a little kid, she would draw on every page of her mom’s legal pads, doodle on her notebooks at school and on the programs at church.

She graduated from the University of Arts with a BFA in Animation with Honors, and it was during this time she realized her love for illustration.

Alleanna finds inspiration in the beauty in everyday things. Everything inspires her. In her work, she seeks to create images that are immersive, rich in color and have a sense of warmth. She lives in New Jersey.

Related Titles

You Are Revolutionary
You Are Revolutionaryicon
Cindy Wang Brandt
Wherever You Are
Wherever You Areicon
Glenys Nellist
What Are You, Lou?
What Are You, Lou?icon
Danielle Herzog
We Remember Your Baptism
We Remember Your Baptismicon
Meta Herrick Carlson
We Are a Class
We Are a Classicon
Rob Sanders