Mississippi Morning

MaryAnn Karre, Horace Mann Elementary School, Binghamton, NY -- School Library Journal, 8/15/2008

Mississippi Morning. cassette or CD. 11:48 min. Spoken Arts. 2008. cassette, ISBN 0-8045-6963-0: $27.95; CD, ISBN 0-8045-4186-8: $29.95.

K-Gr 5–This outstanding picture book (Eerdmans, 2004) by Ruth Vander Zees works equally well in an elementary and a high school classroom. It begins innocently enough, with a description of the daily life of a young boy in Mississippi in 1933. James helps his Mom run the family homestead so that his Dad can run the town store, but times are hard for everyone. After his chores are done, James spends his days helping his Dad in the store, exploring the woods, hunting with a friend, or fishing with the black son of the sharecropper next door. When he is with his friend LeRoy, however, he has to be sure that he isn't seen, since folks don't approve of “white folks spending time with colored folks.” Little by little, he begins to realize that his idyllic community is not as peaceful as he believes it to be, and that people are causing trouble for “colored folk” who “got what was coming to” them. His innocence is shattered when he discovers that his own father, whom he respects and loves, is one of the infamous Klan who hanged a colored man from the tree down near the fishing hole for doing something that the white people didn’t like.. This poignant and disturbing story is read with sensitivity, and is effectively accompanied by soft banjo music. The beautiful, realistic oil paintings by Floyd Cooper add to the telling.  One audio track has page-turn signals. This poignant tale will reach into hearts and may help spark discussions about right and wrong, fairness and equality.