Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Reader reviewed by Ashley Gwinner

After we reread the book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, I was impatient to watch the movie, since the book was outstanding. I think the movie could have had more important events and better description of the characters. The movie also didnt show the biggest theme, and cut out the important lines.
I think that the movie could have included more important events, and better description of the characters. When Cassie and Lillian Jean got in to a fight. Also in the beginning when mama got fired from being a teacher because she pasted paper inside the books. Cassie wasnt narrating that much in the movie but in the book.
The movie didnt show the biggest theme and cut out important lines. The movie cut out the poem Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Roll of Thunder means loud. Hear My Cry means to be heard. Which all together we should be equal. The movie didnt have important lines. For example when mama said, we going to pay for that one day.She said that when they passed over the bridge and Mr. Wallace let them over.
I thought that there were a lot of weak spots; therefore I would prefer the book.It gives the reader more details than the movie. It will help you understand the characters more if you read the book than just to the movie right away.

Reader reviewed by Susan/Mrs. Fleming's class

Roll of Thnder is an Ok book. It's not the best in the world though. The book is about an African-American family the Logans. The main focuse is on Cassie. The other characters are Christopher-John, Little man, Stacey, theie mom, grandma, and various other people. In the begining the book seems really boring. but it really starts to heat up around chapter 5. If you have an interest in historic fiction, then you might like this book

Reader reviewed by Amanda

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is one of the worst books I've ever read. I read it in the 6th grade for school reading and it was very boring and stupid. I am not racist or anything, but I don't understand why this book won awards and interesting and popular books like The Princess Diaries or whatever, haven't.


According to my memory, "Roll of Thunder" is about the African-American Logan family. They love in the South (US) in the 1940s or so. The main focus is on Cassie, one of the middle children. The children I can remember are Christopher-John, Stacy, and Little Man. They live with their Mama and Big Ma. Their father is working on the railroad. The main idea of the story is that the kids must deal with prejudice against African-Americans. All of the chidlren bring it on and are involved in the crimes of the area.


This book is very awful. I can't believe anyone would start and finish it by choice. This is one of the worst books I've ever read right along with Bridge to Terebithia. It was just boring. I would only recommend this to a 12 and up year old with a research project to do.

Do you need a good book to read over the summer? I think the book Roll of Thunder Hear me Cry is a good book because there is a lot of horrifying action in the book. There was always bad action between the black and the white people. They were always fighting over land and money. This book has also won an awesome Newberry award so that proves that the book is really good. I believe this book is also sad because the blacks and the whites would kill and burn each other fiercely. For example in the book the two Wallace boys that were white burned two black local men. They killed one of them. I think they should treat each other equally. There are over 2,310,000 copies sold of the book Roll of Thunder hear me Cry. You should really read the book Roll of Thunder Hear me Cry.

Reader reviewed by Madison Phelan

This book is all about the struggles of the family called the Logans. The children go on their own adventures. This book shows many examples of racism and shows the differences in time periods.

I enjoyed this book because it had suspence, interesting characters and a very good use of imagery. This is a quality piece of literature and has even won a newbery award.

I recomend this book for people who enjoy historical fiction books and books with an assortment of different literary devices.

Reader reviewed by Nix

Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry - Mildred .D. Taylor

A novel that raised strong emotions within me was Roll Of Thunder Hear my Cry By Mildred Taylor. It opened my eyes to racial injustice as it shows how unjustly blacks were treated in Mississippi in the 1930s. It focused on the black Logan Family who were unjustly treated by most of the while families in the novel.
The author highlights the theme of racism through first person narrative. The story is told by the main character, a nine year old black girl Cassie Logan. As the story is told from the point of view of a child, she says things that are simple, but that makes things easier to understand:
No day in my life had ever been as cruel as this one.
The word cruel lets me understand how Cassie feels, and how she had been treated. The reader has a direct link with Cassie because she has been speaking directly to them. It makes us become involved in the story, especially with Cassies feelings and thoughts which makes me have more sympathy towards Cassie and her family.
Taylor captured my feelings yet again through the characters who were victims of the racial incidents. Cassies mother, Mary Logan, was a teacher at the black school. One day the school was supplied with books which were said to be new. When the pupils opened the books, they were shocked to find a racial remark:
10 September 1931 Poor White
11 September 1932 Poor White
12 September 1933 Very Poor Nigra
The words Very Poor Nigra proves the state only gives things to the black schools if the whites are finished with them. When Mrs Logan found this out she glued paper on top of it so no offensive comment would be seen. Mrs Logan did not care if this got her in trouble as she was self confident and a strong female character. If anyone was to notice, they would have had to come to school to do so, where they would see what else the school needed. Mrs Logan represents a newly emerging independent minded class of black citizen.
The Berry family were also victims of a racial attack. The Berrys were tarred and feathered for no good reason:
The face had no nose, and the head no hair; and the skin was scarred,burned and the lips were wizened black like char coal
The simile wizened black like char coal made me envisage someone with a lot of crumbly wrinkles. How could one human do this to another human and get away with it? The Wallaces who committed this crime never got punished for this as they were white.
The author uses many incidents in her novel to show how racist the whites were towards the blacks. Mr Morrison was brought home from Cassies father, David Logans, work as whites were fighting with him and he got the blame of it as he is black. Mr Morrison is a tall muscular man with a few scars on his face. He tells the story of what happened to his family one night, and how the night men came:
Burst in on us with their rebel sabers hacking and killing, burning us out. Didnt care who they kilt. We warnt nothing to them. No better than Dogs. Kilt babies and old women. Didnt matter.
The phrase We warnt nothing to them. Suggests that they didnt do it for a purpose, just for the sake of it, because they were black. Mr Morrison frightened Cassie that night because it was the night men who killed his family.
Another incident earlier in the novel, the children were walking to school and the white childrens school bus was driving so fast and close to the black children they had to run up side streets to stop the bus from catching them:
Little Man turned around and watched saucer eyed as a bus bore down on him sewing clouds of red dust like a huge yellow breathing dragon fire.
The simile Clouds of red dust like a huge yellow dragon breathing fire, conveys an image of a large dangerous object speeding threateningly towards them, with red dust everywhere which makes it look like fire. The children are angry because all the white childrens faces are looking at the black children and they are laughing.
A further incident was when the children came up with a plan to get them their well deserved revenge. They decide to make a ditch in the road so the bus cant get out of it and the children have to walk home. They dug the ditch before they went to school and by the time they ran to it after school it was filled with water. This turned out to be worse than they had planned:
But instead of the graceful glide through the puddle that its occupants were expecting, the bus emitted a tremendous crack and careened drunkenly into our trap.
The word drunkenly describes how the bus was moving in the puddle. It was as if they were staggering into it. The Logan children felt guilty but pleased at the same time for doing this, they could finally stand back and laugh at the blacks for once in their lives. Most of the white children were having to unhappily walk home and walk around the same distance as the black children do every day. Attacking the bus was a minor thing to do after all of the things the whites had done to the blacks.
The climax of the novel continues to hold my attention to the theme, especially when we find out what the night riders do to T.J. Avery and his family. Although T.J. didnt do everything correct in life, it was no excuse to harm him and his family:
Mr and Mrs Avery were dragged savagely by their feet from the house.The Avery girls were thrown through the open windows. The older girls,attempting to gather the younger children to them, were slapped back and spat upon. Then quiet, gentle Claude was hauled out, knocked to the ground and kicked.
The phrase slapped back and spat upon uses violent verbs which conveys how the whites dont care about the blacks. When David Logan found out what had happened he set fire to his own important land, which he had worked all his life on and which meant so much to his family, just for the Averys sake. The Land was important to everyone blacks and whites, they all worked together to put the fire out. It was nice to see everyone working together. David Logan done this to postpone the death of T.J. Avery which inevitably had to happen.
Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry therefor defiantly opened my eyes to what went on in Mississippi in the 1930s. Sadly it is not just in Mississippi that racism takes place, and it wasnt just in the 1930s that racism occurred. Racism occurs today, The author made me realise that there is pain in life no matter what the colour, and that there is good and bad in all walks of life.

Reader reviewed by Macie K.

Cassie and her family must fight for their land and watch for the whites. This book is all about racism and the whites thinking theyre better than the blacks. It started as papa came home from his job on the railroad. Everyday, when they would walk to school the white school bus would splash them and laugh. The kids thought it was a good idea to get revenge, so during lunch they did some dirty work. As the events get better and better they also get scarier. Papa got hurt, uncle hammer coming, and a fire burning cotton this family might just be doomed.

            I thought this book was great. It was a little confusing though, because it had so many characters. When it said some one new, it only told them speaking. The book gave no information of that particular person. The events were also very long for no reason, too. But still this book was very deep and interesting.

            I recommend this book to anyone that likes historical fiction and sad times. Also, to whoever would like to know how the whites treated the blacks back then.  

Reader reviewed by Emily

I remember reading this book for a civil rights unit in 8th grade English. The story was fine, and historical angle of the events seemed reasonably accurate from what I've learned in history classes. However, our class read another book called Warriors Don't Cry, a nonfiction story of a girl during the Civil Rights period. It was based on her diary, so it detailed actual events that happened to her. I think middle schoolers tend to respond more enthusiastically to true events (I know my class did, myself included), knowing that everything they read about was actually somebody's life, which is why I believe Warriors Dont Cry was a better curriculum choice. So, for school, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry is an okay choice, but a nonfiction book would be more effective.

Reader reviewed by Allie

This book is boring. The begining is slow and the chapters last FOREVER! I hated it. I had to read it for school. if it wasnt for school then i wouldnt have even finished the first page. you have to start out with an excting begining to bring the readers in. well this author didnt!

now to the positives, there isnt a lot though! the author gets her point on segregation across. also the end part of the book like the last few chapters are okay, but just ok!

i do NOT like historical fiction books so i was bored! if you do i dont know, you might like it. but other wise ROLL on out of there!

Reader reviewed by Alec R.

The book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by: Mildred D. Taylor starts out like any old book, slow. But dont get the bad Idea about the book; it has a lot of suspense, some action, and a good amount of feeling. If you read this book get ready for some long chapters, and a somewhat stubborn main character that, with the help of family and friends, survives a life of unfairness. With four-hundred acres of cotton land, half in debt will the Logans, and their family and friends survive the life of the unfairness, from whites?

I think this book is good for people who like a lot of suspense and are fascinated with historical fiction. Im wishing you arent reading the book because you have to, but rather you want to. Even if youre reading it because you have to I still think youll like it and have a good time with it. Like I sad it has some long chapters, for example the first one has twenty-nine pages. Now that may not seem like a lot but, if you have too read it mandatorily it seems like a lot more.
 
I think I would recommend this book to people that like, historical fiction, suspense, actively reading, long chapters so you can keep reading, and pretty much anyone who wants to read a good story. So if you want to read a good book, go out to a school library, public library, any place that might have it and get!