A recipe for justice is the extended metaphor of this distinctive picture book about the civil rights sit-ins that began with four Black college students at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960. “They sat straight and proud. And waited. And wanted. A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side.” Andrea Davis Pinkney’s text has moments of playfulness and moments of power as it describes how that first sit-in expanded from four students to many, and from Greensboro to other cities across the South as part of the larger fight for civil rights. Brian Pinkney’s imaginative illustrations include images of a lunch counter that grows longer and longer as more and more people join the protests. A Civil Rights Movement timeline highlighting key individuals, organizations, and events, as well as an author’s note and suggestions for additional reading and research, are all part of the informative end matter. (Ages 7–10)

It was February 1, 1960.
They didn't need menus. Their order was simple.
A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side.

This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement.

Andrea Davis Pinkney uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the "whites only" Woolworth's lunch counter. Brian Pinkney embraces a new artistic style, creating expressive paintings filled with emotion that mirror the hope, strength, and determination that fueled the dreams of not only these four young men, but also countless others.