JD Jackson uses his wonderful baritone to place listeners firmly in 1898 Wilmington, North Carolina, with 11-year-old Moses and his family. Jackson’s narration evokes the slow pace of a warm Southern day. Moses spends his days as many boys do: playing with friends, fishing, and trying to stay out of mischief. When local white politicians become unhappy about the growing wealth and influence of blacks in their town, Moses’s life becomes violent and scary. Jackson performs a variety of Southern accents, portraying Moses’s scholarly father and sassy grandmother as well as arrogant former plantation owners and angry mobs. Jackson’s tone of voice, strong yet gentle, makes the harshness of the story easier to take. G.D. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Adult author Wright, in her first book for children, presents a hard-hitting and highly personal view of the Wilmington race riots of 1898 through 11-year-old narrator Moses. Though the story initially meanders, the pace builds as Wright establishes the Wilmington, N.C., setting, with its large black middle class, and Moses’s family life, which is primarily influenced by his slave-born grandmother, “Boo Nanny,” and his Howard University–educated father, an alderman and a reporter at the Wilmington Daily Record, “the only Negro daily in the South.” Wright sketches a nuanced view of racial tension and inequality from Moses’s sheltered yet optimistic perspective, such as a bike shop’s slogan contest that is only open to white children, or the farmer who fires Moses after he helps another okra picker determine his true pay. A Daily Record editorial ignites racial backlash and catalyzes a series of attacks on hard-won rights, thrusting Moses and his father into the violence of the riots. This thought-provoking novel and its memorable cast offer an unflinching and fresh take on race relations, injustice, and a fascinating, little-known chapter of history. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)

Starred Review, School Library Journal, January 1, 2012:
“The expert blending of vivid historical details with the voice of a courageous, relatable hero makes this book shine.”

Starred Review, The Horn Book Magazine, January 1, 2012:
“Wright has taken a little-known event and brought it to vivid life, with a richly evoked setting of a town on the Cape Fear River, where a people not far from the days of slavery look forward to the promise of the twentieth century.”

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, December 12, 2011:
“This thought-provoking novel and its memorable cast offer an unflinching and fresh take on race relations, injustice, and a fascinating, little-known chapter of history.”

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2011:
"Relying on historical records, Wright deftly combines real and fictional characters to produce an intimate story about the Wilmington riots to disenfranchise black citizens. An intensely moving, first-person narrative of a disturbing historical footnote told from the perspective of a very likable, credible young hero."

JD Jackson uses his wonderful baritone to place listeners firmly in 1898 Wilmington, North Carolina, with 11-year-old Moses and his family. Jackson’s narration evokes the slow pace of a warm Southern day. Moses spends his days as many boys do: playing with friends, fishing, and trying to stay out of mischief. When local white politicians become unhappy about the growing wealth and influence of blacks in their town, Moses’s life becomes violent and scary. Jackson performs a variety of Southern accents, portraying Moses’s scholarly father and sassy grandmother as well as arrogant former plantation owners and angry mobs. Jackson’s tone of voice, strong yet gentle, makes the harshness of the story easier to take. G.D. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Growing up in Wilmington, N.C., in 1898, a naive black boy and his family are devastated by a racist uprising in this fictionalized account of a little-known historical event. On his last day of fifth grade, a buzzard portentously casts a shadow over Moses Thomas, prompting his grandma, Boo Nanny, to warn: "[Y]ou happiness done dead." Moses lives with Boo Nanny, a former slave who takes in white people's laundry, his Mama, a housemaid for wealthy whites, and his Daddy, a reporter and business manager of the Daily Record, "the only Negro daily in the South." Graduate of Howard University and an elected alderman, Daddy ardently believes in the power of education, and Moses tries to follow in his footsteps by reading library books, learning vocabulary words and maintaining perfect attendance at school. In contrast, Boo Nanny thinks her protected grandson "needs to learn by living." When a mob of white supremacists burns the newspaper office and arrests his father, Moses becomes dangerously involved and discovers what it means to be his father's son. Relying on historical records, Wright deftly combines real and fictional characters to produce an intimate story about the Wilmington riots to disenfranchise black citizens. An intensely moving, first-person narrative of a disturbing historical footnote told from the perspective of a very likable, credible young hero. (historical note) (Historical fiction. 10-12)