Product Description

The Mississippi of the 1930s was a hard place for a black child to grow up in, but still Cassie didn't understand why farming his own land meant so much to her father. During that year, though, when the night riders were carrying hatred and destruction among her people, she learned about the great differences that divided them, and when it was worth fighting for a principle even if it brought even worse hardships.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28664 in Books
• Published on: 1994-09-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
At first Cassie Logan and her brothers, a year or so older than they were in the much briefer, gong of the Trees, (1975) are only dimly aware of rumors that two men have been killed and one badly burned by a white mob. Then Mary, their mother, tries to organize a boycott against the Wallaces, the local storeowners and instigators of the violence, and Logan land and lives are put on the line. Cassie's own spirit is demonstrated straight off, on the first day of the school year, when she refuses to accept a schoolbook labeled "condition - very poor, race of student - nigra." Like her parents, Cassie learns that she must pick her shots carefully to survive, and she takes pains to learn a few blackmail-level secrets from her special tormentor, Miz Lillian Jean, before giving the older girl a good thrashing. Tragically though, brother Stacey's friend T.J. who isn't so careful, starts hanging around with the Wallace boys and winds up facing a lynch mob after they talk him into helping them rob a store. Although the Logans, whose ownership of desirable farmland has made them a target of white persecution, live in a virtual state of siege, and even after Papa sets fire to his own cotton to divert the attention of the mob from T.J., the story ends unmelodramatically not far from where it began - after a string of hard-fought victories and as many bitter defeats and with the money for the next tax payment on the land still not in sight. Taylor trusts to her material and doesn't try to inflate Cassie's role in these events, and though the strong, clear-headed Logan family is no doubt an idealization, their characters are drawn with quiet affection and their actions tempered with a keen sense of human fallibility. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
The Mississippi of the 1930s was a hard place for a black child to grow up in, but still Cassie didn't understand why farming his own land meant so much to her father. During that year, though, when the night riders were carrying hatred and destruction among her people, she learned about the great differences that divided them, and when it was worth fighting for a principle even if it brought even worse hardships.

From the Author
My book is very interesting.I hope that people enjoy it.
I hope that young readers enjoy my book. I feel that all of my books are very interesting to all chidren.

Customer Reviews

book?
i am in year 8 and we have to read this pathetic excuse for a book in class. me and the rest of year agree it's terrible and you would be better off reading a proper account on what happen or just a better book.this book failed, to grab the years attention we are all board.
SO UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE OF BOARDEM DON'T READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great read! Interesting and enlightening
That guy 'Ali g in da house' with his unintelligent name completely missed the point of this book. I'd hate to know what his grade was for that paper.
This book is powerful, and a riveting read. I am 17, and was given this book to read by my home-school tutor last year (I have an illness and was unable to go to school or do exams) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I just got it out of the library to re-read, and I love it even more. I too took out the sequels, 'Let the Circle be Unbroken' and 'Road to Memphis' and loved them also. These books teach us a very important history, culture, and they teach us how it felt to be black living in that time! This is interesting reading for anyone with half a brain. The characters are great, Cassie is a very strong well-built character, and Christopher-John and Little Man are just loveable.
This book and its sequels are a must-read!

An enjoyable read,but........
There is no doubt that this book is a superb and easy read,most would not be able to put it down once started,but i fear it is being taken out of context by schools.I myself read this book at school,as im sure most English children have.Unfortunatly books such as this,and 'To kill a mockinbird',are being used as left-wing propaganda by trendy,liberal teachers.Long gone are the days when Shakespear was the order of the day,now only PC books seem acceptable.Oh the literary joys of 'Cool Britania'.