Hear My Cry Roll of Thunder Books

Very helpful and useful guide for this novel.

This book helped my immensely when I taught Roll of Thunder in middle school.

I love the DISCOVERING LITERATURE SERIES! There are questions for every chapter, a chapter synopsis ...tests (multiple choice, vocabulary, essay), and several student worksheets.

Excellent resource. I have many resource booklets, but this one is my favorite. It has many activities that follow my curriculum guidelines and creative ideas for exteding the lessons.

I have used many activities from this book in my classroom and the students have enjoyed them.

It is a great book that is sad yat very exciting on every page and I think it is a lesson to all of us who think we have terrible problems in life because we can have a exaple of how bad other use to have it back then and we can know that todays life ain't as bad as it used to be. It is worse in others ways. But back then it was worse in rasism. Now we still have [roblems with it but not as bad as before. This also is a book about suvival and how the children have to life through such harch condishions even though they are in a bad situation and have lost almost everything they ever charished.

You never know what will happen to the people in the story.It really makes you believe that you are part of it.It also lets you know what it felt like to be Afican-American and live in the times of slavery and hate against you

I think this book was great. I read this book for my book report. I enjoyed the whole plot of it all. I enjoyed it being told from a 9-year-olds point of view. I like that Ms. Taylor didn't let everything just pop out. Like Cassie's parents just didn't tell her everything. She found out most of the stuff either by sneaking around or by asking Stacey her older brother. Some of the parts were confusing. And others were a little boring, well I shouldn't say that I guess slow going is the word. Overall I think this book was very exciting and you should buy it why you can. I promise you YOU WON'T BE SORRY!

The problem with a historical fiction book based on first-hand accounts is that the reader never knows what's true and what isn't. The general depiction of segregation in the Depression era South is accurate, but some specifics are questionable: for instance, Mr. Morrison's parents being from "bred stock." The author, a member of the Black Power movement, clearly had an agenda, and we can't be sure that she wasn't about to let the facts stand in the way of a good story. Thus we are reluctant to recommend the book when there are others, written as non-fiction, which don't require the reader to guess which parts are true and which are totally made up. Books like Black Boy and Black Like Me come to mind. Or I might mention the Jean Fritz books, with a section in the back carefully giving the historical basis for claims made in the text.

There are also some weaknesses in the plot. First of all, Cassie never accounts for how her grandfather, a former slave, was able to buy 200 acres on credit, nor how he was able to get credit to buy another 200 acres a few years later. Also, it's a bit hard to believe that a smart girl like Cassie could reach the age of nine without realizing what segregation was all about. It may be for the benefit of the reader to have it spelled out for her, but Cassie would have long since known.

I gave this book a 4. I thought it was a great book. I enjoyed reading it.The reason I gave it a 4 and not a 5 is beause there were some parts of the story that I got confused and didnt understand what was going on.It took me a while to understand some of the stuff they were talking about.Some parts I thought were slow and kind of boring.I would have liked it if they showed T.J. having the conversation with the Wallaces about Mrs.Logan.
The Characters in this story were very realistic.The book was very well written with detail and as I was reading it I could picture what was going on.I liked how the book was written through the eyes of a young girl whose name was Cassey.Cassey was very brave and willing to do anything for her family.I think she takes after her Uncle Hammer.This book reminds me of the book Watsons Go To Birmingham.When I was in seventh grade I read the prequil to roll of Thunder called"the Land" and now that I have read Roll of Thunder I understand better what is going on with the family.
I thought this book was excellent and it helped me understand what black families went through.I liked the overall purpose of the book and the subject of it.The Logans are trying to get all their bills payed so that their land doesn't get taken away from them.It is uniquely written because the kids dont't know what is going on and how the white families treat black people out side of their town.You can deffinately tell that the don't know what prejudice people act like to them when they take the trip to Strawberry.

THIS IS THE GREATEST BOOK I EVER READ!!!!!! I Would recomend this to anyone with good taste it has a lot of detail and meaning I give it a 5 cause of the great storyline

I think this book is great. All children should read it sooner or later.It shows all the racail and economic problems during the Greatr Depression. Please read this book. It is a good learning operatunaty and a great source of entertainment. This book is full of drama and has aq suprise around every corner.

This was my favorite book in the world as a child. I read it over and over, beginning I think in the 3rd grade. It was deeply moving and probably shaped who I am today.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry shows how in the South, African Americans were treated. One complaint about the whites and the African Americans where in danger of being sent to jail, losing land, and death. This story is told from a African American girl, Cassie Logan, and gives readers a taste of the Southern life she faced.

I had to read this book for my freshman English class and I loved it. If your realy into history this is the book for you. It's exciting from the start and really gives you an insight to what it was like for colored people years ago. Great book I recomend this book to everyone!

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
By Mildred D. Taylor
Published by Scholastic, Inc., 1976
210 pages
Historical fiction
Reading levels: 6.9 grade level equivalent, 920 Lexile level

Mildred Taylor's novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a captivating story told from the perspective of a fourth grader, Cassie, struggling to understand the segregation that plagues her cotton-growing region of Mississippi during the early 1930s.

The story begins as Cassie and her siblings trudge down the dusty dirt road on their way to the first day of school. The first injustice readers experience is seen through the eyes of Cassie's younger brother, Little Man. The first grader refuses to take a textbook when he discovers that the books have already been used by white students. Only after 11 years of use were the books old and ragged enough to be given to "nigra" students, as written inside the covers.

In the next chapter, Cassie and her three brothers deal with the injustice of the school bus. The bus passes them on their walk to school every morning, but it is only for white students. Yet after carrying out a trick to get back at the bus driver, the siblings are afraid they will be found out and will receive the same fate as a family of black neighbors who were burned after making retaliatory comments to a white storekeeper. Throughout the story, fear of who these "night men" will attack next keeps Cassie's family on edge, particularly because the family owns land desired by one of the involved white men.

Cassie next experiences the injustices of segregation when she gets to take her first trip to town with her grandmother. There, Cassie and her brothers must wait in the store as white people, even a young girl, are helped before them. Upon leaving the store, Cassie gets herself into trouble when she refuses to step off the sidewalk to let another girl her age walk by. Cassie is also reluctant to apologize and address the white girl as "Miss."

Throughout the story, Cassie's older brother Stacey repeatedly gets into trouble because of the lying and tricks of his friend T.J. By the end of the story, T.J. is known as a thief and has made friends with two local white boys. Those two boys wind up getting T.J. into enough trouble that the night men once again set out to wreak havoc on T.J.'s family and other local black families. Only a clever turn of events is able to prevent dire outcomes in the enthralling final two chapters of the novel.

While a great read overall, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is a bit confusing for two reasons. First, the characters are at times hard to sort out. It can be difficult to keep Cassie, her siblings, and their young friends straight. It also can be difficult to keep the local families involved in the story straight. The novel is difficult to understand also when Cassie's grandmother explains how the family came to own the farmland around which much of the story's conflict revolves. However, with careful attention, the characters and history can be sorted out, and the story's interesting events will keep you reading.

If you are looking for a page-turner, this book will not disappoint you. Mildred Taylor's vivid descriptions give her characters distinct personalities that bring the novel to life. The novel is a chain of short stories that are entertaining enough to stand alone, but together carry readers to the novel's thrilling climax and conclusion.

Taylor's novel effectively conveys the experiences of children who are just beginning to learn how segregation affects their lives. Readers come to deeper understanding of the hatefulness and unfairness of many white people's treatment of their black neighbors during the early 1930s. Taylor also includes enough explanation of the history of slavery and segregation for readers to fully understand the events. Even if segregation is not a topic of great interest to you, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry will hook you till the last page. A Newberry medal winner, this is a famous book that everyone should read. I assure you that it is well worth your purchase.

My 13 year old daughter was reading this book for school. So I thought I would join her. What better way to connect with your child than share the love of books. So I read the first page. I wasn't too sure about it, but 6 hours later, I am done with it. I couldn't put it down.

Cassie is a young African-American girl who is naive to her era and the position of her race during that time. All the characters you feel so drawn into. Her dad works on a railroad, but brings another man in to stay with his family while he is away. There have been "night men" coming and doing horrible things to different families and he wants someone to protect his family. The children learn that life isn't fair at all. I couldn't get over Little Man's spirit. Jeremy was a true friend and it is sad that they couldn't be friends with him. T.J. was going a different road altogether.

This book will stay with you and I am so glad I picked it up. You wonder if they hadn't decided to boycott the store, what would have happened. I hope my daughter enjoys this book as much as I did. I am so glad that they still read these kinds of books in school.

if you like history books read this, if not dont waste your time its boring from beginning to end but it gives you a good idea of what life was like for afro\amer. after the civil war

I was very disappointed when I received the guide. I had my school purchase it for me. There were questions under a specific chapter that related to another chapter. The study guide questions seemed like they were prepared haphazardly. The writer did not capitalize on many other themes that emerged from the book. You can prepare more in-depth questions without paying the money for it. I would not recommend it to anyone.