DEAR MRS. PARKS

A series of letters from children to the elderly civil rights leader along with her responses, subtitled ``A Dialogue with Today's Youth'' and organized by topic, such as ``Courage and Hope,'' ``Living with God,'' etc. Following a preface, foreword, commentary, introduction, and a section on the most commonly asked questions, the actual letters appear; these are brief, flat, and devoid of personality. Parks's responses are didactic and often vague. Few children will take the book on by themselves, although teachers and parents may be able to lift inspirational, if not overly eloquent, quotes from it. Steer readers instead to Parks and Jim Haskins's Rosa Parks: My Story (1992). (chronology) (Nonfiction. 8-12)