Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry...

The more I read, the more it takes to impress me.  I've noticed that I am pickier than I used to be about what constitutes a good book.  But every now and then, I still come across one.   Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor is one of those great books.  It is the story of an African-American family's struggle in the deep south during the Great Depression.  It is a book about racism.

Though Taylor's subject matter is heavy, her story is engrossing.  The characters are deep, sympathetic, and multi-faceted.  Taylor develops them in such a way that we see their person-hood come to life.   Throughout the struggle and hardship, there is growth.  I used one such example a couple of weeks ago in A Matter of Principle.

It is my understanding that Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is part of a series Taylor wrote, with it being a middle book chronologically in the series.  I have not read other books in the series, but I know RileyAnn was immediately investigating them and plans to read more at some point.  I have seen Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry on many book lists including, Sonlight and TruthQuest, but of course, we read it as part of our Beautiful Feet Modern American and World History study.  When studying American history, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor is not to be missed!