Mississippi Bridge

by Mildred D. Taylor, Max Ginsburg (Illustrator)

Overview

Another powerful story in the Logan Family Saga and companion to Mildred D. Taylor's Newbery Award-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

A day of conflict and tragedy.

Cassie Logan and her brothers watch as the weekly bus from Jackson comes splashing through a heavy rainstorm—they are there to see their grandmother off on a trip. One by one, the passengers board the bus. But this is Mississippi in the 1930s, so when several white passengers arrive at the last minute, the driver roughly orders the black passengers off the bus, including Cassie’s grandmother. Then, disaster strikes in the rain, and the children witness a shocking end to the day’s drama.


"Taylor, a powerful storyteller, again combines authentic incidents to create a taut plot...Her cry for justice always rings true."—Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141308173
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/01/2000
Series:	Logan Family Series
Edition description:	Novella; Reissue
Pages:	80
Sales rank:	526,167
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

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.

Editorial Reviews

The Newbery Medalist reprises the Logan family in telling a powerful story about the segregated South of the 1930s. Ages 7-11. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 5-10-- Drawing once again upon her father's stories, Taylor has created a harsh, disturbing tale of racism in Mississippi during the 1930s. Told from the viewpoint of Jeremy Simms, a ten-year-old white boy who aspires to be friends with the black children of the Logan family, this is the story of a rainy day, an overloaded bus, and the destiny of its passengers after the driver has ordered the black travelers off to make room for latecoming whites. Telescoping the injustices faced by blacks on a daily basis into one afternoon drives home the omnipresent effects of racism with a relentless force. This is an angry book, replete with examples of the insults and injuries to which the African-American characters are subjected. Jeremy, the only white character to acknowledge this unfairness, is brought to task by his father for ``snivelin' '' after the Logans. The book's climax is a catastrophic accident in which the bus crashes off a bridge, killing the passengers. When Jeremy asks a black rescuer how such a thing could happen, he is told, ``the Lord works in mysterious ways.'' This is a disturbing explanation, not for its implication that the white passengers are being punished for the sins of their race so much as for the logical extension that the black characters were saved because they were kept off the bus in the first place. Well written and thought provoking, this book will haunt readers and generate much discussion. --Anna DeWind, Milwaukee Public Library

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