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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I always enjoy reading novels set in this era. The Civil Rights Movement and the oppression of African American's were one of my favorite topics to study in Highschool and college. Though Wright didn't capture everything and though I felt like the story was unfinished and by that I mean the main characters story Moses. Despite this I enjoyed the different characters I was introduced to and Moses narrative, his young innocent perspective showed us readers how really brutal this era was for African Americans.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Racism, Violence
I am so glad I listened to Crow! I didn't even know that there were race riots in Wilmington in 1898, or that it was the only successful coup d'etat in U.S. history, and I really want to know more!
What I really like about this book is that it takes place a generation after the Civil War. As far as civil rights and politics go, it's definitely an unusual time period- at least, in my experience with middle grade/YA historical fiction. I really love it when historical fiction focuses on something I've never heard about, because I also want to learn more, and this book is no exception to that.
I don't know much about the South during that time period, but I really liked seeing how Moses dealt with his family, friends, and people in Wilmington, and how aware he was of what had happened, and what was going on. It really is a good look at what someone's life might have been like during that time. I could picture everything so well, and there is a lot of detail.
It did start off slow, and it took awhile to get to the actual riots and events of what happened that year. It made it hard to get into at first, because I wasn't sure where things were going, but I did like that we saw what things were like before this happened. I also LOVED that there was an author's note at the end of the book, explaining what happened and where the author got her inspiration for the book. It doesn't seem too common in middle grade/YA historical fiction, so it was nice to hear it.
I thought it was fine as an audio book, and the narrator...he fit, and yet he didn't. I did feel like there wasn't much variation in his tone- there was something sort of monotone about his voice, and I couldn't listen to it in the car, because something about his voice was very soothing, and kind of made me want to sleep, which isn't good when you're trying to drive. Yet I could picture him as a 12-year-old boy.
Let's Rate It: Overall, I really liked Crow, and I feel inspired to learn more about what happened in Wilmington in 1898. I have mixed feelings about the narrator but overall, I liked the narration too. Crow gets 4 stars.
What I really like about this book is that it takes place a generation after the Civil War. As far as civil rights and politics go, it's definitely an unusual time period- at least, in my experience with middle grade/YA historical fiction. I really love it when historical fiction focuses on something I've never heard about, because I also want to learn more, and this book is no exception to that.
I don't know much about the South during that time period, but I really liked seeing how Moses dealt with his family, friends, and people in Wilmington, and how aware he was of what had happened, and what was going on. It really is a good look at what someone's life might have been like during that time. I could picture everything so well, and there is a lot of detail.
It did start off slow, and it took awhile to get to the actual riots and events of what happened that year. It made it hard to get into at first, because I wasn't sure where things were going, but I did like that we saw what things were like before this happened. I also LOVED that there was an author's note at the end of the book, explaining what happened and where the author got her inspiration for the book. It doesn't seem too common in middle grade/YA historical fiction, so it was nice to hear it.
I thought it was fine as an audio book, and the narrator...he fit, and yet he didn't. I did feel like there wasn't much variation in his tone- there was something sort of monotone about his voice, and I couldn't listen to it in the car, because something about his voice was very soothing, and kind of made me want to sleep, which isn't good when you're trying to drive. Yet I could picture him as a 12-year-old boy.
Let's Rate It: Overall, I really liked Crow, and I feel inspired to learn more about what happened in Wilmington in 1898. I have mixed feelings about the narrator but overall, I liked the narration too. Crow gets 4 stars.
This was a mighty powerful novel from outside my usual genre preferences, but boy am I glad I gave it a try. Crow depicts events surrounding the Wilmington Insurrection/Massacre/Race Riots of 1898, a shocking and shockingly little-known episode in U.S. history, through the eyes of young Moses Thomas, the son of a Black city alderman. James Thomas is a strong literary father and civic leader in the mold of Atticus Finch, and Crow would be a perfect companion novel to Mockingbird. While the suspense in Lee's novel builds up to confrontations that get defused by Finch's strength, reason and Christian ethics, it's a reflection of the different eras in which the two novels are set that Crow's tensions lead to more heart-breaking outcomes. The scariest aspect of the novel to me is how this pre-Jim Crow past doesn't feel as remote as Lee's Depression-era tale. Great historical fiction - like great science fiction - offers fresh perspectives on contemporary events, dilemmas and zeitgeists. By that standard, Crow is phenomenal historical fiction.
One Sentence Review: Some books fade from your memory as you get further away from reading them while others, like in the case of this book, only grow stronger and more powerful in your mind as time passes.
Too heavy-handed in its themes; too flat in many of its characters. Interesting setting and time period, though. It tickled me to pieces when Boo Nanny described a thunderstorm as a "toad floater." Ha! But that's the only time I laughed during this serious story.
Definitely a book for higher level 5th graders, but might be a good choice for a class read-aloud. A fictious account (told through the eyes of 6th grade Moses) of the Wilmington Massacre of 1898.
"The summer of 1898 is filled with ups and downs for 11-year-old Moses. He's growing apart from his best friend, his superstitious Boo-Nanny butts heads constantly with his pragmatic, educated father, and his mother is reeling from the discovery of a family secret. Yet there are good times, too. He's teaching his grandmother how to read. For the first time she's sharing stories about her life as a slave. And his father and his friends are finally getting the respect and positions of power they've earned in the Wilmington, North Carolina, community. But not everyone is happy with the political changes at play and some will do anything, including a violent plot against the government, to maintain the status quo. One generation away from slavery, a thriving African American community—enfranchised and emancipated—suddenly and violently loses its freedom in turn of the century North Carolina when a group of local politicians stages the only successful coup d'etat in US history."
"The summer of 1898 is filled with ups and downs for 11-year-old Moses. He's growing apart from his best friend, his superstitious Boo-Nanny butts heads constantly with his pragmatic, educated father, and his mother is reeling from the discovery of a family secret. Yet there are good times, too. He's teaching his grandmother how to read. For the first time she's sharing stories about her life as a slave. And his father and his friends are finally getting the respect and positions of power they've earned in the Wilmington, North Carolina, community. But not everyone is happy with the political changes at play and some will do anything, including a violent plot against the government, to maintain the status quo. One generation away from slavery, a thriving African American community—enfranchised and emancipated—suddenly and violently loses its freedom in turn of the century North Carolina when a group of local politicians stages the only successful coup d'etat in US history."
This book had a slow start, and at times was difficult to follow with quick changing story lines near the end.However, the facts behind the fiction are what interested me. I knew next to nothing about the segregation of Wilmington NC and the White Declaration of Independence, thankful for Barbara Wright for writing about it and bringing it to light in a way that children will understand the hate and injustice that went on.