"We were concerned about much more than breathing- we were trying to save our lives- racing from room to room, slamming our windows shut and locking them as fast as we could." Melba Patillo Beals writes the story of her life, and what she had to go through everyday, as a result of her being one of the strong teenagers that integrated Central high in the year 1957. This book, the sequal to Warriors Dont Cry, makes you feel the pain, suffering, and hurt that Melba experienced living as a young african american in Little Rock Arkansa. The book was not all about the tough times she had, but also about the good times that her and her family shared, the things she accomlpished, and how she got to where she is know. In the book, Melba is living with her young brother Conrad, her grandma India, and her mother Loise, where she is trying to graduate high school, and then hopefully leave her small town of Arkansa. The book is very touching and I got emotional reading it, as i did when i read her first book. A quote that made me want to keep reading was in the beggining of the book, when she writes in her diary"Oh, god, please help me find my way. I don't want to disappoint anyone. Don't I deserve to have a senior year? Can't we have intergration but not have me participate? This is such a big problem, only you can figure it out. Thy will be done. Please give me courage." This passage showed her courage, and i wanted to keep on reading to see what she would do.Melba travels to San francisco were she meets with the Santa Rosa NAACP, and realizes that the hatred that she once thought all the whites had, was not true, and that she would begin a new life. She dealt with growing up with a white family, getting married, having children, and having her husband leave her. Overall this was a good book, and i enjoyed it. If it could have been different i wish it would have been a bit shorter, and more descriptive about her life as an adult.I recoment this book to others, and suggest it, for a book to read on a rainy day. Enjoy reading it, and check out her other book.

Melba Pattillo Beals' journey through a time of prejudice shows a woman's courage. After trying, to integrate into an all white high school and being harassed by the K.K.K. Melba Beals is relocated by the NAACP. She starts her new life in California, a much different environment than the one she left behind in Arkansas. Melba hits a turning point in her life as she forgets about her studies and things to try to fit in. This non-fictional story drives your emotions as it talks of how cruel our world can be. It also showed how it only takes one person to make a difference. This truly inspirational piece will leave you screaming for justice.

Words can't express how this book made me feel! For her to recount the horror and pain she underwent in Little Rock, was so touching. Her actual experience was personally felt. Ms. Beals has an extraordinary way of expressing herself. She brought out so many emotions in me. I would love to be able to personally write to her - she has truly brought me to a new level of strength. Reading her book has taught me that keeping your faith in God will ultimately show you that all the blessings he has given you should not be taken for granted.

In the novel, Warriors Don't Cry written by Melba Pattillo Beals, the plot is set out in an easy to understand format. There were nine black, Little Rock students that had integrated into Central High School, an all white high school, during the civil rights movement. Of course, since most of the population in Arkansas were white racists, the black students were not welcome at the school. The black students endured a lot of physical and mental abuse from white students, teachers, and parents. They had to find a way to fight back without actually fighting. The novel flows together in a medium pace. It challenges the reader, but is also easily understood. The author makes you think about how the Little Rock nine were treated even after you have completed the book. It makes you rethink the way that you treat people. The story takes place in Little Rock, Arkansas, during the Civil Rights Movement. Most of the story surrounds Melba's home and school life. There is a kind of depressing and saddening atmosphere when you read about the Little Rock nine being abused. It makes me upset to think about how badly they were treated. I get sick to my stomach when I think about they had to endure all the pain without fighting back, for fear that they would have been kicked out of the school. I get depressed when I think about how things like this still occur today because some people are too little to get past the color of a person. The Little Rock nine were very brave teenagers. Their names are Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed Wair, Elizabeth Eckford, Terrance Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Jefferson Thomas, Minnijean Brown Trickey, and Melba Pattillo Beals. They all were beaten, chased and verbally abused by white people and even some black people who were afraid of integration. Minnijean Brown had hot chili dumped on her, others were beaten, and Melba Pattillo Beals had acid,among other things, theown in her face. Even though a lot of horrible things happened to the Little Rock nine, they went back to school the next day, and the next, and so on. We know the pain they endured as it was shown through the eyes of the author, Melba Pattillo Beals. The author keeps you in anticipation to find out what will happen to the Little Rock nine the next time they go to school or leave their houses. You want to know who will harass the black students, who will be nice to them, or what will happen when the guards leave. You understand what it was like for the black community, during the civil rights movement. You can picture what happened to the Little Rock nine when they integrated into Central High School and their families while they were at Central. In the end Ernest Green, the only black senior at Central, graduated from Central High School. Melba leaves to go to California to go to another high school. She moves in with a white family by the names of Dr. George McCabe, Carol McCabe, and their four children. In my opinion, this book is a wonderful look back to history. It takes you back to the civil rights movement, when the blacks were still fighting for the freedom they deserved. In our constitution it says that all men are created equal, but we weren't always all equal, and this book is a perfect example of that.

This work is perfectly sequenced and thoroughly documented, mainly because the author kept a detailed diary during this period. Years later, her diary, plus archived news reports and a great writing style combined to produce this searing expose. It is the story of the 1957-1958 integration attempt at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, as seen through the eyes of a participant, one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Patttilo Beals.

In WARRIORS DON'T CRY, it's heartwrenching to read of the actual daily brutality and torture of kicks, slaps , spitting, sprays and verbal abuse that these children suffered. The events that occurred at this timne made an unerasable mark of violent racist psyche on the multi-colored design that composes America's people. This book is also emotional because it is easy to see that those in power could have made the transition to integration a much smoother and less painful step into an inevitably better social structure.

This was a hard read. I had to put it down several times because the visualization was just too intense, the bigotry and viciousness too unadulterated. Yet, I think it's something every American needs to read so that the actions contained in this book will never be repeated.

I give Melba Patillo Beal's novel Warriors Don't Cry two thumbs up. Warriors Don't Cry is an inspirational, moving account of Melba and the Little Rock Nine's ordeal integrating Little Rock High School. Being spat at, kicked, egged and fearing for their lives was a typical day at school for these nine brave black students. Things happened to Melba (one of the nine selected), her family and the other eight which are hard to imagine. This is a book about how cruel people can be sometimes, and Melba and her families struggle to survive her year at Central.

Segregationists would do just about anything to prevent the Little Rock Nine from returning the next day. Day after day was torture for them. Today if you are attacked you can fight back. The black students were harassed, physically abused and could not do a thing about it, without getting kicked out of school for good. Although slow at times, this book is an easy to read book, mainly revolving around what was happening to Melba at school, home and in her community. Also, the hardships of the other eight students. I was both surprised and angry that no one was backing her on her decision to integrate. Not even her own people! Although a few good, kind people helped her along, mostly she was alone. A fifteen year old girl being abused by students, their parents and teachers alike.

The author keeps you glued to the book to see what will happen to Melba the next day she goes to school. It amazes me that Melba can keep going to school when she is treated so badly. I would have quit after the first day. Melba's faith in g-d, her grandma India, her mother Louis, and a few blacks and whites helped her survive her struggle to get an education. Melba didn't go through integration for her self, she was a brave warrior so that in the future her people could get a good education, and lead a good life in this "free" country. This is a good book for anyone to read, no matter their age.