Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Image: World Cat

Taylor, Mildred.  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.  1976.  Penguin Random House, New York, NY.

In this timeless tale, we meet the Logan Family.  This family lives in Mississippi during the Jim Crow Era of the 1930's.

Cassie Logan is one of 4 children living and working their land along with Mama, Pa, and Big Ma. That's right, their land.  While every other family they know is Sharecropping their land from the Grangers, the Logans own their land.  Years ago, Mr. Granger had some financial difficulties, and Grandpa Paul Edward  had bought the land that they had been working.  And Mr. Granger has never forgotten this.  He wants nothing more than to have that land back in his possession.  And he will stop at nothing to make it happen.

The children: Cassie, Stacey, Christopher John, and Big Man are learning how to function on a world where the color of their skin determines how they are treated.  From segregated schools to waiting until the whites have been helped in a store before they can be helped, the world is not fair.  But when the Logan's friend TJ gets involved with a gang of troublesome white kids, the ensuing chain of events will change their world forever.

Note from Bettina:
This book is a Newberry Award Winner and Winner of the Coretta Scott King Award.
When I was in college, I took a class in Children's Literature.  This book was one of our assigned readings.  It has stayed with me since then, and I will occasionally go back and read it because it reminds me just how far our world has come in 100 years.  I feel we need to be reminded of how things were so that we don't go back.

World Cat Links:
Digital Audio Book:
https://www.worldcat.org/title/roll-of-thunder-hear-my-cry/oclc/715386207&referer=brief_results

Digital Book:
https://www.worldcat.org/title/roll-of-thunder-hear-my-cry/oclc/1082867176&referer=brief_results