The Rock and the River

I loved this book! It provided a way to imagine the civil rights movement from the eyes of the youth. It was emotional and intriguing. Great read!

Interesting and perceptive story about a young adolescent African-American boy whose father is a major (fictional) leader in the civil rights movement in Chicago. As he and his older brother struggle under his father's shadow, his brother leans toward joining the Black Panthers in defiance of his father's explicit principles of nonviolence. A good window for young readers into the troubles of the civil rights period, what the conflict between nonviolent and revolutionary civil rights workers meant, and a nuanced portrayal of both sides, especially the Panthers.

Sometimes you read a book and it's like candy--delicious for the moment and then gone. Other times you read a book that is like a nourishing meal-- fills you up and leaves you satisfied for longer. THE ROCK AND THE RIVER is a banquet of piquant flavors that play against each other to delicious result*. Sam's father is a colleague of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., following Dr. King's doctrine of peaceable protest. Sam's older brother Stick is working with the Black Panthers, and wants to see change come faster, even if it means some violent confrontations. The Chicago police don't come off looking very good in this book, but the author makes it clear there is blame enough (and good intentions enough) to go around. Sam's friend Maxine, and Sam's mother are both richly drawn and strong females in Sam's life. The action starts building from the first pages, and keeps moving at a steady pace. Near the end of the book, Sam is faced with a serious courtroom choice that I felt sure would be the final conflict in the book. A chapter further on I was sitting with my jaw dropped open, not believing what had just happened. This book is one that I can easily recommend to young adult readers, just for the pleasure of reading it, but it would be an excellent addition to high school social studies classes as well. The final few pages of the book are the Author's Note giving brief background of the civil rights movement and the Black Panther party. *Reviewer's Note: I just finished reading JULIE & JULIA, another excellent title for a very different audience, hence the food-oriented review comments!

THE ROCK AND THE RIVER is deeply moving, troubling, and ultimately, hopeful story about the civil rights movement. The writing is beautiful; the characters so complex and real it's hard to believe they're fictional. This is a truly stunning novel that should be on every upper middle grade reading list in the U.S.

"The Black Panther Party, without question, represents the greatest threat to internal security of the country." -- FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in a late 1960's internal memo With a click of the mouse, you can retrieve images of the Black Panther Party from the late 1960s -- the images that were broadcast into our suburban living rooms when Holling Hoodhood (from THE WEDNESDAY WARS) and I were junior high school students on Long Island. They were pretty unsettling images -- serious-faced black guys with those black berets and shotguns -- at least if, like Holling and me in the spring of 1968, you were thirteen-year-old suburban white kids living a million miles away from those places where policemen far too often had people of color feeling totally unsafe in America. "The cops took turns striking Bucky with their nightsticks, fists, and feet. The radio in the background seemed to sing louder, the cheerful pop tune warring with the sick thwack of baton blows against skin. "The tall cop bent close to Bucky, his square nose practically touching Bucky's cheek, and said something. Bucky reacted sharply, jerking backward, his fists stretched out in front of him. The cop laughed and hammered Bucky's arms with his baton. "The music cut suddenly and the silence suffocated the street. The air grew thick, hard to breathe without choking. Only the hum of cars on nearby streets disturbed the still air. The stocky cop lifted the radio from his belt and spoke into it. "Maxie moved closer to me. This couldn't be happening right in front of us, especially not to Bucky. It went on forever. Finally the tall cop brought his nightstick down hard against Bucky's temple. The blow connected, making a loud crack. Maxie turned her face into my shoulder. I slid my arm over Maxie's back, hugging her closer." In the spring of 1968 in Chicago, Sam is thirteen. He is the son of black Civil Rights activist Roland Childs, a confidante of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Like Dr. King, Mr. Childs is an uncompromising advocate and practitioner of nonviolence. Sam and his older brother Steven (Stick) have grown up in the Movement. But lately, Stick, a voracious reader, has been surreptitiously studying the books and magazines being shared by his friends who are becoming involved with the Black Panthers. When Sam and Stick encounter white thugs armed with bats, bottles, and sticks who are beating participants at the edge of the crowd at one of Father's protests, Stick gets into a fight and is bashed in the head with a broken bottle while trying to protect an elderly woman who is being attacked. The brothers split the scene with the approach of cops (They know which color will get arrested no matter who caused the trouble.) and head to the nearest hospital to get Stick's forehead sewn up. To observe the treatment of the brothers at that Chicago hospital is to begin to understand what life was still like for blacks dealing with white America in 1968. For black kids

I decided to purchase The Rock and the River after reading positive editorial reviews, and was rewarded in doing so. To call it a stunning coming of age story is not merely enough, as it transcends the genre. It is beautifully written and the prose is deep without overshadowing the humanity of the characters. It is one of those novels that will make you think, cry, and remember. I was disappointed to learn that this is the author's first novel (while at the same time being pleasantly surprised by the fact). I look forward to reading her next book.