Lies We Tell Ourselves - 'A piercing look at the courage it takes to endure...forms of extreme hatred, violence, racism and sexism.'

This year, for the first time, CILIP (the leading body for libraries and information professionals) joined forces with Amnesty International UK to present the Amnesty CILIP Honour. This book prize is to be awarded to an author whose book 'illuminates, communicates, or celebrates our personal rights and freedoms.'

On Monday 20th June, the inaugural Amnesty CILIP Honour was awarded to Robin Talley for her young adult novel  Lies We Tell Ourselves.

Talley's novel is based on the real-life experiences of The Norfolk 17, a group of African-American teenagers who were the first black students to be integrated into previously all-white schools in Virginia in 1959.

The book portrays the kind of physical and emotional abuse these students endured as they bravely led the fight for an equal education in the face of violent and hate-filled campaigns from anti-integrationists.

Through the friendship of the two main characters, Sarah and Linda, Talley also shines a light on inter-racial relationships and LGBT issues.

Lies We Tell Ourselves is a compelling, thought-provoking and enlightening book. It will be of particular interest to our Year 10 history students who are currently studying this area of the American civil rights movement.

For more information on the history behind Lies We Tell Ourselves and The Norfolk 17, visit Robin Talley's blog:

http://www.robintalley.com/blog/page/2/

The archives of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper also give a fascinating insight into the students' civil rights struggles:

http://pilotonline.com/news/local/history/back-in-the-day/a-special-first-day-of-school---feb/article_62fc0be2-a041-5ef2-b51e-ade6d5433013.html