Booklist's 1000 Best Young Adult Books Since 2000 by Booklist;Chipman Ian;Cart Michael;

Author:Booklist;Chipman, Ian;Cart, Michael; [Engberg, Gillian; Chipman, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LAN025030 Language Arts & Disciplines / Library & Information Science / Cataloging & Classification
ISBN: 1743733
Publisher: American Library Association
Published: 2014-05-22T00:00:00+00:00

★ Taylor, Mildred D. The Land. 2001. 392p. Penguin/Phyllis Fogelman (9780803719507). Gr. 7–12.

Like Taylor’s Newbery Medal book, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976), this powerful historical novel, a prequel to Roll of Thunder, refuses to “whitewash” history. Drawing directly on her family history, Taylor goes back to the time of Reconstruction to tell a searing story of cruelty, racism, and betrayal. She also tells a thrilling coming-of-age story about friendship, hope, and family strength. Paul-Edward narrates it in his own voice, which combines a passionate immediacy with the distance of an adult looking back. Born of a part-Indian, part-African slave mother and a white plantation owner, he is raised in Georgia by both parents and treated “almost” as if he were white. He eats at his white father’s table—except when there are guests. He learns to read, and his best friend is his white brother, Robert, who is the same age. His greatest enemy is Mitchell, the son of black sharecroppers, until Paul teaches Mitchell to read, and Mitchell teaches Paul to fight. Paul grows up and falls in love with a strong, independent woman, but his focus is on working the land, his own land. It’s rare to find detail about work and business in books for children. The novel will make a great discussion title in American history classes, and it could easily be paired with any number of stories about immigrants’ struggles to follow their dreams in America. Taylor’s characters are drawn without sentimentality. Paul-Edward’s granddaughter will be Cassie Logan, and readers who remember her from Roll of Thunder will grab this landmark book and be astonished by its powerful story. —Hazel Rochman

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