Jump the ditch!

Cassie Logan has great belief in her own worth, her Mamma has taught her well and not just because her Mamma is a teacher, but because her Mamma is proud of her brood and pride is an expensive commodity in Mississippi in the 1930’s.

Cassie and her brothers, Stacey, Christopher-John and Little man walk the long dusty road to school every day with their friend TJ, the white kids ride the long dusty road, in the school bus, every day, and every day Cassie and her brothers and TJ have to jump the ditch lest they get run over by a bus that will never stop for them.

Cassie and her brothers and all the other coloured kids in the school have to make do with outdated books handed down from the white school governors, books without covers, or books that are written on and dirty, or with pages missing. Little man and Cassie in particular are less than happy at getting books in this way.

Mildred D Taylor captures the fear and suspicion that the average poor black family had to live with daily under the bigotry and racist white values that controlled their every move.
In particular this book tells the story of one family who are almost torn apart in one eventful summer. Night raiders burning houses and hanging without trial, white boys using the poor hapless TJ as a stool pigion for their crimes, Cassie’s uncle Hammers rage at the treatment handed down to his family, her father having to work away from home to make the mortgage payments on their homestead and land, the constant pressure from the whites on them to sell their only hope for the future.
Cassie’s Father told her-

"Look out there, Cassie girl. All that belongs to you. You ain't never had to live on nobody's place but your own and long as I live and the family survives, you'll never have to.”

It would take all summer for Cassie to finally realise why her father worked so hard to keep this land.

During this summer Cassie has to grow up quickly, and as with any child, growing up seems to be more pain than gain, there are many lessons to be learned, many truths to be realised and so much pride to be swallowed just to survive that she probably felt fit to burst. If it wasn’t for the love of her mother and father, her brothers and grandmother the chances are she wouldn’t have made it.
Towards the end of a long hot summer things reach to a seemingly inevitable bad conclusion until an unexpected happening gets everyone working together to avoid disaster.

I don't know if I can get across to you how much I loved this book, it made me think and empathise, it made me care, it reminded me of a time not that long ago, and indeed a time that is with us still, where some people are seen as inferior because of their skin colour.
Go out and buy this book for your kids and read it yourself too, then maybe you will know what it is to read something that actually matters.

I think this is a must read for all older children and adults, there are lessons to be learned here.

Roll of Thunder hear my cry is a terrific read, it has probably passed many of you by because it lives mainly in the childrens section of libraries and book stores.