Northbound: A Train Ride Out of Segregation by Michael S. Bandy (review)

Bandy, Michael S. Northbound: A Train Ride Out of Segregation; by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein; illus. by James E. Ransome. Candlewick, 2020 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780763696504 $17.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 5-8 yrs

For our young narrator, finally riding the passenger train that regularly charges past his grandparents' Alabama farm is a dream come true. Grandma is taking him to Ohio to visit relatives, and the novelty of, well, every last detail within the train and zipping past its windows has him fully engrossed. It's 1960s Alabama, so he's not really surprised by the "colored only" sign that demarks their passenger car, but once they pass through Atlanta, that sign actually comes down, and a white boy he'd seen at their home station (and who had obviously espied him as well) bounds into the car, introduces himself, and invites him to go exploring. From the wobbly transition between cars to the elegant dining car presided over by a man who's worked on it his whole adult life, everything enchants the two boys. Then they get to Chattanooga, the segregation signs go back up, and the narrator is escorted to "his" car while his new buddy, Bobby Ray, howls in protest but manages to give him a rolled-up paper before he leaves. When they reach Cincinnati, the sign comes down, the boys reunite, and the narrator unrolls the best souvenir—Bobby Ray's drawing of the integrated train car they briefly shared. Ransome's watercolor scenes balance the details of train travel that so excited the characters (and will doubtless intrigue even a current Amtrak audience), with understated tracking of the boys' unfolding friendship. Reference to the boy as Michael hints perhaps at autobiographical roots for the story, and an author's note comments on the patchwork enforcement of segregation once practiced aboard trains that moved through multiple jurisdictions. This is a good discussion starter for young listeners who may confront lines not of their making and mixed messages about crossing them.