The Rock and the River

by Kekla Magoon, Dion Graham (Read by)

Overview

For thirteen-year-old Sam it’s not easy being the son of known civil rights activist Roland Childs. Especially when his older brother (and best friend), Stick, begins to drift away from him for no apparent reason. And then it happens: Sam finds something that changes everything forever.

Sam has always had faith in his father, but when he finds literature about the Black Panthers under Stick’s bed, he’s not sure who to believe: his father or his best friend. Suddenly, nothing feels certain anymore.

Sam wants to believe that his father is right: You can effect change without using violence. But as time goes on, Sam grows weary of standing by and watching as his friends and family suffer at the hands of racism in their own community. Sam begins to explore the Panthers with Stick, but soon he’s involved in something far more serious—and more dangerous—than he could have ever predicted. Sam is faced with a difficult decision. Will he follow his father or his brother? His mind or his heart? The rock or the river?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501246869
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	04/28/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	9 - 14 Years

About the Author

Kekla Magoon has worked with youth-serving organizations in New York City and Chicago. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and resides in New York City.

From HBO's The Wire, he also narrates A & E's The First 48. An Audie award-winning and critically acclaimed actor and narrator, he has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series.

Editorial Reviews

Magoon's first novel shows movingly how the two sons of a civil rights leader come to bear the cost of the struggle…convincingly detailed
—The New York Times

Julie Just

Gr 7 Up

Sam Childs, 13, is growing up in Chicago in 1968. His father is a civil rights activist, and the boy has been involved in peaceful demonstrations with his family. When he and his girlfriend, Maxie, witness the brutal beating of a friend at the hands of the police, his world begins to change dramatically. His 17-year-old brother brings a gun home and hides it in their shared room. Next thing Sam knows, Stick has run away from home and is involved with the Black Panther Party, whose philosophy his dad does not share. The brutality of the beating has wrought a change in Sam as well, and the good works he sees the Panthers doing in his neighborhood make him question his dad's opinion. The characters are well drawn and the complexities of the relationships between Roland Childs and his two sons are moving. The episodes of violence are graphic, but necessary to move the plot forward, and Magoon portrays well the tension between the Panthers and the Civil Rights Movement. An author's note provides further historical context. While the image of the Black Panther Party is somewhat idealized, this is an important book about a historical reality that has not been dealt with in juvenile fiction.-Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH

School Library Journal

This compelling debut novel set in 1968 Chicago vividly depicts how one African-American family is torn between two opposiing approaches to the Civil Rights Movement. Fourteen-year-old Sam is the son of minister and civil-rights leader Roland Childs, a revered community figure and movement heavyweight whose counsel is sought by Martin Luther King Jr. Sam finds his faith in and respect for his father's stalwart commitment to nonviolence shaken when he discovers that Stick, his older brother and best friend, is involved with the Black Panthers. Sam is torn between the two people he looks up to most. As he poignantly wrestles over which direction to take, Sam both observes and experiences firsthand the injustice of racism. It takes a terrible tragedy for Sam to choose between "the rock and the river." Magoon is unflinching in her depictions of police brutality and racism. She offers readers a perspective that is rarely explored, showing that racial prejudices were not confined to the South and that the Civil Rights Movement was a truly national struggle. (historical note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews

"An intensely significant story..." — Sundee T. Frazier, winner of the ALA 2008 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award

"This is an essential story that has been waiting for its time and its teller. A brave and brilliant accomplishment." — Helen Frost, Printz Honor Award-winning author of Spinning Through the Universe

"Vividly, poignantly, and without compromise, Kekla Magoon takes us to the heart of a world in the messy business of monumental change. The Rock and the River is an extraordinary book that brings unflinchingly to life an extraordinary moment in time." — Tim Wynne-Jones, author of Rex Zero and the End of the World

"What a rich and passionate debut novel! With both intensity and humor, the story that unfolds is at once riveting, disquieting, and ultimately most satisfying." — Ellen Levine, Caldecott Honor Award-winning author of Henry's Freedom Box

"This explosive coming-of-age story, taut with tension and protest, propelled me along like the river of its title. Magoon is most certainly a new and serious talent to watch. An intensely significant story of emotional and historical depth that resonates with relevancy for our age." — Sundee T. Frazier, winner of the ALA 2008 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award for Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It

From the Publisher

In 1968 in Chicago, Sam and his brother, Stick, are the sons of a Civil Rights activist. While they respect their father, they’re also drawn to the Black Panthers, who are setting up clinics and helping the poor. Dion Graham makes this outstanding story about a young man’s coming-of-age during the Civil Rights Movement glow with life. Particularly moving is Graham’s depiction of the opposing views of Sam’s dad and his brother, which are dramatized in Sam’s mind as he makes difficult decisions. He soon realizes both sides are so different and yet so much the same. The author's concluding notes add background information, including an unflinching look at some of the activities of the FBI during this period. This is a remarkable first novel. S.G.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2011 Audies Winner © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2010 - AudioFile