Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
July has been designated both Family Reunion Month and National Black Family Month. We all need to take time to celebrate the strengths and virtues of our families. For some writers, their family and their family stories provide the necessary ingredients for great books. Such is the case of our author of the day, Mildred D. Taylor.
Turning to family legends of her childhood, Taylor created a proud black family, the Logans, who own their own land in Mississippi in the thirties. The children suffer from inadequate schooling, and they see the nightriders who terrorize their community. In her most famous novel, the Newbery Medal–winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Taylor depicts the family so vividly that readers immediately love and respect the Logans are are drawn into their story. In the end, no matter what your racial background, you identify with their plight and want to battle prejudice with them. Taylor continues to follow these characters—Cassie, Stacey, Little Man, and David—through her series.
Published in 1976 at the height of the Civil Rights movement, Roll of Thunder is one of the most important children’s novels of the twentieth century. It enables children to understand a period of time unknown to them and to think about and feel what children of another era might have experienced. Often young readers who have never thought about discrimination admit this book helped them understand what it would be like to be hated for your race. In one powerful scene, Taylor simply describes the inside front cover of a textbook. There is a list recording its owners and the quality of the book. It clearly shows that when the textbook has been judged to be in poor condition, it then became the property of a black child.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry depicts the story of one remarkable family and in doing so changes the way children and adults look at their own society—the true testament of a great book. It celebrates the strength of families and their importance—no matter your race or religion.
Here’s a passage from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry:
But Little Man said nothing. He just stood staring down at the open book, shivering with indignant anger.
“Pick it up,” she ordered.
“No!” defied Little Man.
“No? I’ll give you ten seconds to pick up that book, boy, or I’m going to get my switch.”
Little Man bit his lower lip, and I knew that he was not going to pick up the book.
Rapidly, I turned to the inside cover of my own book and saw immediately what had made Little Man so furious.
Also recommended:
- Song of the Trees by Mildred D. Taylor, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, and all the other books about the Logan family.
Additional Information
A few other events for
- Happy birthday Dave Barry (Starcatcher series).
- Happy birthday Idaho, which became the 43rd U.S. state in 1890. Read Potato: A Tale From the Great Depression by Kate Lied, illustrated by Lisa Campbell Ernst.
- In 1962, Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Read In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Boa Lord, illustrated by Marc Simont.
- It’s National Build a Scarecrow Day. Read Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Lauren Stringer, The Scarecrow and His Servant by Philip Pullman, illustrated by Peter Bailey, and The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by David Diaz.
- It’s Nations Eat Beans Day. Read the Ivy and Bean series by Annie Barros, illustrated by Sophia Blackall, the Clarice Bean series by Lauren Child, and the Harriet Bean series by Alexander McCall Smith, illustrated by Laura Rankin.