Mildred D. Tayloris the author of nine novels includingThe Road to Memphis,Let the Circle Be Unbroken,The Land,The Well, andRoll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Her books have won numerous awards, among them a Newbery Medal (forRoll of Thunder, Hear My Cry), four Coretta Scott King Awards, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. Her bookThe Landwas awarded theL.A. TimesBook 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.
Gr 2-3 In this quiet story, `lois explains a child's perspective of her fears when she, her sister Wilma, and their parents drive from Ohio to visit relatives in Mississippi in 1950. When `lois' father buys a new gold Cadillac, his wife refuses to ride in ituntil he declares his intentions to visit his parents in the South. Then the whole family goes, caravan style, for it's ``a mighty dangerous thing, for a black man to drive an expensive car into the rural South.'' `lois and Wilma are disquieted by the increasing appearance of ``white only, colored not allowed'' signs as they drive further south. After white policemen humiliate and arrest their father, they do visit their grandparents, but the trip results in their father giving up the car when they return home, realizing that it was pulling the family apart. Full-page sepia paintings effectively portray the characters, setting, and mood of the story events as Hays ably demonstrates his understanding of the social and emotional environments which existed for blacks during this period. `lois' first-person narrative allows readers to understand the youthful perspective on the dehumanizing intentions of racism. Clear language and logical, dramatic sequencing of story events make this story bittersweet for adult readers but important for the social development of beginning readers. Helen E. Williams, University of Maryland, College Park
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