Carlotta’s Special Dress: How a Walk to School Changed Civil Rights History
by Carlotta Walls Lanier, Lisa Frazier Page, and illustrator Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Read via online reader, the book is actually out and about for purchase and reading. This book seemed like it would be “okay” or a nice book on a person I knew a little about, what a nice way to introduce them to kids, but would not be anything “wow.” Don’t judge a book by its cover and don’t assume because other books on similar people and subjects did not work out for me. 
As an adult, I assumed there was more to the story of the Little Rock Nine than what history told me in school. I knew the basics: nine kids of color tried to go to school in a once all white school, people threw slurs and objects at them, and the military and police became involved. But that is not the total of things. Where history books only told part of the story, inside the pages of this book, we pick up where they left off and have the rest of it.
To center the story around the object of a dress is actually clever. We all know what a dress is. We all have our “special outfits” for the first day of school. We all know about dressing up for special occasions. We understand how a new, great outfit makes us feel special. Yet, Lanier also knew bad things associated with a special dress. And then we can relate to that as well, as we might know what it feels like to have that special item of clothing have the invisible, but mental stain of something bad happening while wearing it. And Lanier knew all too well this feeling. And through this dress (in the voice of Carlotta Walls Lanier herself), an outfit that was meant to just be a First Day of School outfit, tells all the details of how a group of teens tried to get an education.
Good illustrations, an interesting tone and pacing along with colors that are good, and nice details, things work out to allow history to unfold. Also included are several extras including photographs, and afterwards by Carlotta Walls Lanier about some of the pieces the book doesn’t hit on and a lot more. Any of the potential triggers are very minor, but are obvious, yet done in a tasteful way allowing the story to move. 
While I took away a lot of things from the story, one fact stood out to me. The special dress I recognized right off as I had seen in it photographs of that fateful day. However, the students never even made it into school that day, and that dress took on the mental stain of hatred. Now, I wonder what the actual, triumph dress was. Because like her special dress, that now sits proudly in a museum, that is a sign of a powerful and special occasion.
