Mississippi Trial 1955

by Chris Crowe

Overview

Winner of the 2003 International Reading Association Award for Young Adult Novel. This gripping read is based on the true events of the murder of Emmett Till, one of the nation's most notorious crimes that helped spark the Civil Rights Movement.


At first Hiram is excited to visit his hometown in Mississippi. But soon after he arrives, he crosses paths with Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago who is also visiting for the summer. Hiram sees firsthand how the local whites mistreat blacks who refuse to "know their place." When Emmett's tortured dead body is found floating in a river, Hiram is determined to find out who could do such a thing. But what will it cost him to know?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142501924
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	12/01/2003
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	159,261
Product dimensions:	4.19(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.63(d)
Lexile:	870L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 15 Years

About the Author

Chris Crowe is the author of several books, most notably Mississippi Trial, 1955, which won several awards, including the 2003 International Reading Association's Young Adult Novel Award. His nonfiction book, Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case, was an Jane Addams Honor book. His first children's book, Just As Good: How Larry Doby Changed America's Game, appeared in 2012. Chris married his high school sweetheart, and they live in Provo, Utah, where he works in the English department at BYU. They are the parents of four children and grandparents of two lovely girls and three handsome boys.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Will get readers thinking. (Publishers Weekly)

Editorial Reviews

"Will get readers thinking."—Publishers Weekly

"Teen readers will find themselves caught up in Hiram's very real struggle to do the right thing."—Kirkus Reviews

"This book belongs in all collections to show young readers the full range of American history."—School Library Journal 

"This is a thoughtful story that rises above a mere retelling of one episode in the South's racist past."—Children's Literature

From the Publisher

Gr 6-8-While visiting relatives in Mississippi, Emmett Till, 14, spoke "ugly" to a white woman and was subsequently tortured and murdered. Two men were arrested and tried for this heinous crime, but in spite of substantial evidence, were found not guilty. Crowe has woven the plot of his novel around these historical events. Hiram, the fictional main character, had lived with his grandparents in Mississippi as a child. Now 16, he returns to visit his aging grandfather, where he meets Emmett Till. He also renews a childhood acquaintance with R.C. Rydell, a redneck bully. When Emmett's mutilated body is found, Hiram immediately suspects that R.C. was involved. In a predictable twist at the end, he learns that it was his grandfather, not R.C., who helped the murderers. The Deep South setting is well realized. Descriptions of the climate, food, and landscape are vivid and on target. Likewise, Southern racial attitudes from the period are accurately portrayed. Grampa is a racist but Hiram enables readers to see his good qualities as well. Hiram himself seems rather naive. He is unable to fathom the racial prejudice at the root of his father's alienation from his grandfather. Nor does he feel the aura of racial fear and hatred that hangs over the entire region. The novel succeeds in telling Emmett Till's story, but there is an emotional distance that keeps readers from caring as deeply as they should about this crime. Still, it is a story that needs to be told. This book belongs in all collections to show young readers the full range of American history.-Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Historical fiction examines the famous case of Emmett Till, whose murder was one of the triggers of the civil-rights movement. Hiram Hillburn knows R.C. Rydell is evil. He watches R.C. mutilate a catfish, but does nothing to stop him. "I didn't want to end up like that fish," he says. He watches R.C. throw stones at a neighbor's house and humiliate 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African-American visitor from Chicago, and still he does nothing. Hiram says, "When things are scary or dangerous, it's hard to see clear what to do." When Till is brutally murdered, Hiram is sure R.C. is involved. Hiram, a white teenager who has come back to the Mississippi town where his father grew up, is the narrator and the perspective of the white outsider and the layers of his moral reflection make this an excellent examination of a difficult topic. When the case comes to trial, Hiram knows he must face his own trial: can he stand up to evil and do the right thing? He knows Mr. Paul, the local storeowner, is right: "Figure out what's right and what's wrong, and make yourself do the right thing. Do that and no matter what happens, no matter what people say, you'll have no regrets." This is a complicated thing to do, as Hiram must summon inner strength and come to terms with who he is-the son of an English professor who hates everything about the South and the grandson of a farmer who loves everything about it. Teen readers will find themselves caught up in Hiram's very real struggle to do the right thing. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews