Mississippi Morning

by Ruth Vander Zee, Floyd Cooper

Amidst the economic depression and the racial tension of the 1930s, a boy discovers a horrible secret of his father's involvement in the Ku Klux Klan.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Picture Books, Cultural, Family, Childrens, Fiction, Historical

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 30, 2004

Reviews

[Linda Lipko · Rating 3 out of 5]

The life of James Williams is slow and predictable. His father owns a store where locals come to shop for needed hardware items. Men gather on the porch to share conversation in the hot afternoon, and at the cool evening.

Jame's life slowly unfolds into a series of happenings that make him stop and take a listen. James is a good child. He helps with chores around the house which free his father to concentrate on the store. He enjoys being with his father at the store when he can go after his chores.

All too soon his life and his perceptions are about to change. He learns of a fire purposely set by white people intent on burning down the black people's home.

He spends tine with his black friend Leroy, fishing in a place where others cannot see the together. Leroy is told that a white person fishing with a black is "just not normal. LeRoy tells James about the Hanging tree where innocent black men are hung for doing something the white men don't like.

James also learns of the KKK. Finding it difficult to believe that white people could so easily be cruel, James is in for the surprise of his life when one day he sees a white robed man with a familiar gait walking toward home. And, now James is confronted with the fact that his father is not a man he believed him to be.

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book for elementary age readers may be fiction but carries the weight of unpleasant truths. Set during the Depression in rural Mississippi, we meet James William. He not only does chores at home but often helps his father at the hardware store he runs in town. Though a busy boy he still finds time to spend with friends. One of them is a black boy, LeRoy, who also knows a great deal about fishing. It is through LeRoy, that James learns of the KKK and a hanging tree nearby. One morning after milking the family cow, James happens to see someone walking along dressed in white with a hood over his head, carrying a rifle. It turns out to be James' father. Their relationship is never the same after that. James has to confront the ugly truth in his own life and the surrounding area. The pain he feels is palpable in the book. The art work is excellent which conveys the reality of James' life and others in his town.

[McKayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells the story of a little white boy named James. He is a good kid, he helps with the chores so his dad can run a hardware store. James hears whispers of the terrible things happening to African-American people from what he overhears from his father and his African-American friend LeRoy.

James learns about the KKK, and I was pleasantly surprised by how historically accurate and honest this book was. Most books kind of downplay the racism felt by minorities, but this book brings up lynching, taring and the burning of an African-American preachers home. James finds out someone close to him is a part of all this and is never really the same.

This book was heart-breaking, but honest. It's a shame that most people can probably relate, because they too have racist family members. I wish the book had more of a resolution, but maybe that is the point— in life there sometimes is no resolution.

There is no rating for this book on Scholastic, but Eerdman's Publishing Company recommends the book for ages 7-12. I would say this would be for kids on the older side, just because of the honest descriptions of history.

[Tammy Manns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade Level: (Because of content) Middle Grades (4-6)

This book is a well written "story" about the way African American people were treated during post slavery days. The characters in the story could be from any Black or White family. James was a little boy who did not know how people mistreated the "colored" people in his town. After all, his friend, LeRoy, a black boy, seemed really nice and was a great fisherman. His other friend, Red, a white boy, told him things that he had overheard in a conversation between his dad and James' dad. James didn't want to believe it until he saw things with his own eyes. This story is sad because I am an African American. The phrase in the story sums up the feelings of some people, "that's just the way things were." I can only hope things get better.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautifully-illustrated volume is heavier/darker and has longer text than a typical picture book, which softens the delivery of its very harsh (but necessary and under-discussed) message.
Most of Van Der Zoe’s books are based on true stories; but it’s not clear this is the case here. Either way, this sad but gentle book is a great launching point for an honest discussion about racism.

[Y.Poston]

A haunting narrative of a boy who discovers the hatred of racism in his own family. Sad and poignant.
I admire the lack of sugar-coat and the slice-of-life depiction of the cognitive dissonance that racism has sown & continues to sow in the United States.

[Sue Mosher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sad book, but such an important one!

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy discovers a terrible truth about his father.

[N_stefanie Akwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mississippi Morning is an important, well-written book, but very disturbing. The dust jacket suggests that it is for children ages nine and up. I would not use this book with children under twelve. James Williams is a young white boy, maybe ten or eleven, who lives in Mississippi in the summer of 1933. He does chores around the house and barn in the morning and is free to explore the neighboring woods in the afternoon. Some afternoons James would walk into town to help his father take care of his store. While he sweeps, he notices men come to speak to his father in whispers. He doesn’t know what they talk about, but he can tell that his father’s opinion is important to the men and they treat his father with a great deal of respect. His father expresses his great pride in his son for helping so much while his wife takes care of James’ two younger sisters. James has two friends that he spends his free time with, one is a white boy named Red and the other is a black boy named LeRoy. In separate conversations, he starts to suspect that his father’s friends might be doing horrible, racist things to the blacks in the neighborhood. Given how polite his father is to the blacks that come to trade in his store, James can’t believe that he father would be racist. Houses are burned, a man is lynched, and James cannot believe that his father could be part of such violence. When James tries to discuss his concerns with his father, his father abruptly changes the subject. As the reader soon suspects, James father is a leader among the Ku Klux Klan. One fateful morning, James accidentally sees his father run back to their home while pulling the white pointed hood off his head. In that moment, the father-son relationship is irreparably damaged, if not destroyed. Neither of them can look each other in the eyes and young James loses his respect for his father as well as his innocence.

The artwork is beautifully done by Floyd Cooper, who has illustrated and even written several books for children. Floyd has earned Coretta Scott King Honors for several titles: Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, Meet Danitra Brow, and I Have Heard of a Land (Harper Trophy). Some pages have a Norman Rockwell feel to them, with pink clouds capturing daybreak. Other pages are dark and scary, depicting hooded men on horseback, galloping away from a burning home. The illustrations powerfully support the all too true story.

Maybe I’m being naïve, but I don’t want elementary school aged children hearing about such violent images and human cruelty. A child should be able to idealize their parents as long as possible. It is important that children think for themselves, which sometimes means disagreeing with their parents’ ideas. When students learn about the Ku Klux Klan, this would be a great book to use.

[N_katiebernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is told form the point of view of a white, young boy. He grows up in the south during the time of the Ku Klux Klan. He is proud of his father, a shop owner who gets along with the other men in town and seems to be quite influential among them. The young boy learns about the concept of racism from another young boy and he can't understand why some don't like others. He then learns from his other friend, an African American boy, that there are violent men who dress in white and hurt those that are black. The boy sees such a man, dressed in white, early one morning and is sad to find that the man enters his home and is in fact his father. The story ends with the boy stating that the father and son could never look into each others' eyes again.

I would highly recommend this book to teaching about racism in the late 1800s/early 1900s. It is quite graphic, talking about lynchings and burnings of homes. This should only be read with older students, in at least the fifth grade. However, with a mature classroom the students could truly have a great discussion about the character's perspective and the hatred that occurred.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long, dark, and discouraging. The whole time I was reading this to my little one -- and it took us almost a week's worth of story time to wade through it -- I kept thinking there would be something to make it worthwhile. There's no lesson in the book, no indication of how the main character uses his knowledge to be more or less racist than those around him. Only lesson I can figure is that kids can't trust adults -- not exactly the lesson I want to start out my little one with. While I'm sure the book is a good snapshot of a moment in history, it lacks the character development that (I think) would make it a stronger and more useful book.

[Lindy]

Upper Elementary - James lived in Mississippi during the 1930s. His father owned a general store, and the men would always gather and talk on the porch. James respected his father very much. James would fish with Leroy, a black boy, but Leroy could never tell because he was afraid of the Klan. James didn't know about the Klan. James' friend Red told him that the black preacher's house had been burned. James couldn't believe it. Even more, the men had been talking about it outside his father's store. James was out walking one day and saw a Klan member running toward his house. The man tripped and his hood came off. James saw it was his father. He never looked up to him again.

[Jordan Laskoski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very sad and discouraging. I thought that this story had no real lesson, which kind of upset me. It is definitely a short, challenging snapshot of civil rights history which I thought was beautifully drawn, but not written. The pictures seemed very real and I could see how a child would love them. I also think young children would get bored with this book and have no real interest in the story line.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not a big fan of this book. However it did paint a good picture about historical events. One of the issues I had with this book was the character did not seem to take anything away from seeing his dad wearing the white pointy cloth over his face. The character went about his business like it never occurred. I think the story could have had a deeper meaning, a better storyline.

[Trevor Oakley · Rating 5 out of 5]

My co-worker/friend and I read this book today and she remarked, "I love it when an author acknowledges that kids have brains, and writes something that allows them to use it." Amen -- This is a short, challenging snapshot of civil rights history, beautifully drawn and written.

[Morgan Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book confronts a social injustice that has plagued our American history. While it deals with an uncomfortable issue, it would be an important book to share with students, as it would allow them to dialogue about their thoughts and feelings about racial and hate crimes.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that show what it is like for a young white boy in the south to realize all the racism around him and he finds out that his father is a Klan member. Would be a great book to jump start a discussion because the ending leaves the reader hanging.

[Paige Y. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is going to work really well with out study of the 20th century. My only complaint is that there are pages where the type bleeds into the pictures and I found it difficult to read those sections.

Lots of discussion to have with kids.

[Amanda Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I think it would be appropriate for higher elementary grades. It could definitely be used for a history lesson. This was a very eye opening book and it could teach children about fairness and doing what's right Even when no one else is.

[April Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps children understand what life was like during the 1930's. This book gives the children idea about segregation and how African American's were treated. This would be a great book to use as a read aloud to help introduce the idea of segregation.

[Preston Foote]

The author of this book is Ruth Vander Zee. I thought that this book was a great book about how in our history that we separated black and white people. And no one really like that. It also had the KKK in the book to represent that time period.

[Jason Eifling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Make sure you preview this book before reading it to your little one. Book teaches a lesson, but I'm not real sure what it wants to teach. Artwork is great and story has truth in in, just be ready to field lots of questions when reading it to younger audiences.

[Erica Hendrickson · Rating 1 out of 5]

The illustrations are wonderful and the book is well written, I just did not like the ending. I feel the direction this book goes is more suited to middle or high school age, not young children.

[Ellie Dietzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is about the KKK. not the best classroom book, but could be used during a history lesson or they could have it read to them so there can be discussion.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book I would read to children in my classroom. Its very compelling but to find out your father is a KKK guy, I dont like children should read books about that.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Great way to teach history in the classroom.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book. I would recommend to a friend.

[Tory · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brutal story about a boy who discovers his father is part of the KKK.