Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Nine year old Cassie and her brothers Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man must walk to school each day while the white students caught the bus to their all-white school in 1930s Mississippi. The Logan family is one of the few black families in the region who own their land, but neighboring white plantation owner Harlan Granger wants it for himself. In an area where race relations are often volatile and always unjust, the Logan children must learn what it means to be strong and proud of their heritage in a world that views them as worthless. I think that this novel is a powerful tool for illustrating not only a dark and difficult time in America's history, but the small personal triumphs that can occur when families stick together and work hard to maintain their dignity. Highly recommended for all readers.

Roll of Thunder is a reread (or, to be more exact, a re-listen). I loved it the first time and I loved it this time. It's the kind of book I now want to push off on everyone I meet.

It's a story of the horrible effects of racism, but it is also much more than that. It's the story of the struggles of a family to keep their land, to be good citizens and human beings, to have children that are good citizens and good human beings. I marveled at the character of Mama and Papa who never gave up their fight. I was happy to see Mr. Morrison in the story, a white man who dared to flaunt the social norms for the higher principles of justice. I was sad to watch T.J. fall prey to greed and pride.

What a great story! I keep wanting to alert Oprah. Wouldn't it be fun to have an Oprah read that kids could read, too?

Rereading this as an adult definitely reinforced the love I had for it in middle school. It's always dangerous revisiting childhood favorites, but this was a fantastic experience.

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This was assigned reading for my 7th grade Language Arts class, and I remember liking it so much I breezed through the 3-week reading schedule and finished the first weekend. Hoping to reread soon!

Reading The Land influenced me to read Roll of thunder Hear my Cry ( and the next two books in the series) because the Logan family is such an inspiration and symbol of hard work and good faith especially in the time period that they live in. The setting is 1933 in Mississippi and Cassie Logan is the main protagonist in the book. She lives on the 400 acres of land that her mulatto grandfather Paul-Edward bought over 25 years ago with her parents, grandmother and 3 brothers. Usually a hot tempered soul, Cassie's life changes when she encounters the bitter truth of the south and the white people who resided there. Her older brother Stacy became distant to her and she didn't know how to handle not being so close to him anymore. And her family also has to deal with not getting their land taken away from Harlan Granger, one of the most powerful and rich white people in that section of Mississippi; jealous and resentful that a Negro family owns so much land- land that used to belong to his family before reconstruction. When you read this book, you will definitely feel like you are on the same journey Cassie had to travel. And the brutalities and cruelness that they encounter are just mountains that they have to climb over in order to be able to stand strong and keep their pride that was instilled with them forever, just like their land.