The Well - Hardcover

Mildred D. Taylor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241138388 ISBN 13: 9780241138380

Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd

Synopsis

Written by Mildred Taylor, winner of the Newbery Medal for "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry", this book recounts the tale of two young boys in the early 1900s who, when all the wells except their family's dry up one hot summer, are faced with the realities of the tensions between blacks and whites.

About this title

About the Author:

Mildred D. Taylor is the author of nine novels including The Road to Memphis, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, The Land, The Well, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Her books have won numerous awards, among them a Newbery Medal (for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry), four Coretta Scott King Awards, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. Her book The Land was awarded the L.A. Times Book Prize and the PEN Award for Children's Literature. In 2003, Ms. Taylor was named the First Laureate of the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature. Ms. Taylor now devotes her time to her family, writing, and what she terms "the family ranch" in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

From Booklist:

Gr. 5-7. "Charlie Simms was always mean, and that's the truth of it." From the first line, this short, intense novel of racist violence is told with the immediacy of a family narrative. David Logan (the father in Taylor's 1977 Newbery Award winner, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry) tells a story of his boyhood in rural Mississippi at a time when "uppity niggers" can be hanged for thinking themselves equal to whites and the horror of slavery still haunts his mother's memory. The Logans are among the few black families to own land, and during a prolonged drought, they have a well of sweet water, which they share with their neighbors, black and white. Most people are grateful, but the white Simms family hates being beholden to blacks. The tense confrontation erupts in beatings and terror. The cast is large for so short a novel--it's hard sometimes to keep track of all the people in the community--but the Logan family is beautifully individualized. David is able to heed his father's warning, "Use your head, not your fists," but David's hotheaded older brother can't bear the constant humiliation. The well of the title is also a metaphor for the history of the place: both the bigotry that lies beneath the surface and the sweet strength of family ties. Hazel Rochman

About this edition

• Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd
• ISBN 10: 0241138388
• ISBN 13: 9780241138380
• Binding: Hardcover