SuitabookRoll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Mildred D. Taylor
- Reading
- Consider reading together if the violence or racial slurs may be difficult, and pause to check how the child is responding. The story’s serious themes also lend themselves to talking about dignity and injustice.
- Themes
- Land, dignity and independence: The Logan family’s land is tied to their independence and pride, while Cassie comes to understand its importance. The book presents this favourably.
- Racism and injustice: The family faces racial prejudice and threats in Depression-era Mississippi. The book treats this strongly critically.
- Cassie’s point of view: Cassie narrates in the first person as a child, so readers encounter injustice through her developing understanding. The child’s perspective shapes how readers encounter injustice: Cassie feels it before she can fully name its wider causes.
- Worth knowing
- Racial slurs and religious oaths occur. Violence includes whipping, a beating, a shooting, people set on fire and threats of mob violence; rape is referred to vaguely.