Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

This book is a Newberry Award winner and was written in 1976. It talks about the Logan family and this particular book is one of a series of books about this family. The background and family structure of the Logan's is loosely based on Taylor's own family. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry is a work of historical fiction which is my family genre of children’s literature. I think the idea of writing a story based on historical events to teach children about a historical time period by writing it from the perspective of a child is wonderful. Children can relate much easier to another child. In the story, Cassie the only daughter of the family, is the narrator and we see everything through her eyes. The family is an African American family living in the south after reconstruction. They own their own land, which is very rare at that time, and causes them great strife with the white, racist people of the town. I felt a great deal of injustice and frustration throughout the novel because it is hard to imagine such things occurring in this country. My favorite part of the book was the children’s conflict with the bus. The white children of the town are allowed to ride a nice school bus to their school, while the black children must walk to their run down school. The children decide the dig a whole in the road and thus cause the bus to break down and all the white children to walk to school for a day. Although it is a brief victory, the children at least get some satisfaction from it! The Logan family is stable and steadfast and sticks together throughout the story and shows what family life should be like for children. Although their troubles are great, the parents still make it a priority to raise their children correctly and to be independent and honorable.