Troubled Waters
A River's Journey Toward Justice
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 20 Jan 2026
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- £10.99
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- Pre-Order
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- £10.99
Publisher Description
From Young People's Poet Laureate Carole Boston Weatherford and award-winning illustrator Bryan Collier, a stirring account of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, as witnessed by the Alabama River.
Some say water is the mightiest force on earth.
But the yearning for freedom is even stronger.
For centuries, the Alabama River has been a witness. Buried in its riverbed are countless fossils and artifacts-as well as souls, secrets, and stories.
Troubled Waters brings history to life through the voice of this mighty waterway, from the earliest settlers on its shores to 1965, when Black citizens in Selma rose up like a river to demand their right to vote.
In this breathtakingly original picture book, celebrated creators Carole Boston Weatherford and Bryan Collier show that the Alabama River is much more than a witness to history. It is also a source of strength, keeping hope afloat through times of trouble; and a rising tide, coursing on a journey toward justice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Boston Weatherford and Collier limn an arresting history of the Alabama River from the water body's perspective in this distinctive picture book. Incorporating simple facts ("318 miles long, fifty to 200 yards wide") and lyrics from spirituals ("Gonna lay down my burden down by the riverside"), emotionally resonant text traces that which has flowed "past my banks." Early lines emphasize the age of the river, which predates the fossils in its basin and the Indigenous Choctaw in whose language its name means "Thicket Clearers." Proceeding pages note that the river watched enslaved people fleeing bondage, stood witness to the Trail of Tears, saw the Black Belt's birth, and viewed the violence of Bloody Sunday. Picturing figures above and below the water's surface, linked by bubbles rising from the deep, collaged acrylic and watercolor illustrations show how the living and the lost share the same history. It's an accurate telling that acknowledges a continuation of resistance driven by "oppressed masses in boats on the bottom/... afloat as if an armada." A timeline and illustrator's notes conclude. Ages 4–8.
