Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry

Taylor, Mildred D. (2004) Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. New York: Puffin

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry is for students in middle school. This book teaches about the Jim Crow south in the 1930s. It is a book that teaches Civil Rights as well. This is a moving story about the Logans, a poor black family in Rural Mississippi. Cassie, the nine year old main character, does not have any reason to believe that people would find her inferior because of her race. She has always grown up in a safe, large family. Everything changed one year when the KKK began to ride through their town terrorizing black families. For the first time in her life Cassie begins to understand what her grandfather meant when he told her that she never had to live on someone else's land. Cassie begins to grow up and witness discrimination. This story is full of factual, but somewhat scary truths. The children nearly witness a lynching. From this book alone students can begin to better understand the Jim Crow south.