The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon

Kekla Magoon does a masterful job of presenting the main struggles of adolescence--independence from and attachment to family, self-awareness, peer pressure--in the framework of the Civil Rights and Black Panther movements, but also from the framework of familly. This book manages to inform the reader without making it feel like a "teachable moment" sort of thing--not easy to do, and much appreciated.

The Rock and the River is realistic fiction set in the height of the civil rights movement. The very real and emotional conflict centers on a young teen torn between his parents belief in, and work for, Dr. King's non-violent methods and his older brother's belief in, and work for, the Black Panthers. All of the characters are committed to change and willing to suffer the consequences of their actions, but protective of their families and friends. Sam, and his brother Sticks, are fully developed characters, whose struggles to make a difference and figure out the right thing to do will engage the reader. Author Kekla Magoon brilliantly shows the complexity and depth of both the Black Panthers and non-violent protest points of view in the fight for civil rights. And she does it without taking sides on which group did more or which group was better. She also did not neatly wrap up the moral conflicts of Sam and Sticks with a simple resolution. The Rock and The River is a great read for teens and adults.

"The Black Panther Party, without question, represents the greatest threat to internal security of the country."
-- FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in a late 1960's internal memo

With a click of the mouse, you can retrieve images of the Black Panther Party from the late 1960s -- the images that were broadcast into our suburban living rooms when Holling Hoodhood (from THE WEDNESDAY WARS) and I were junior high school students on Long Island. They were pretty unsettling images -- serious-faced black guys with those black berets and shotguns -- at least if, like Holling and me in the spring of 1968, you were thirteen-year-old suburban white kids living a million miles away from those places where policemen far too often had people of color feeling totally unsafe in America.

"The cops took turns striking Bucky with their nightsticks, fists, and feet. The radio in the background seemed to sing louder, the cheerful pop tune warring with the sick thwack of baton blows against skin.
"The tall cop bent close to Bucky, his square nose practically touching Bucky's cheek, and said something. Bucky reacted sharply, jerking backward, his fists stretched out in front of him. The cop laughed and hammered Bucky's arms with his baton.
"The music cut suddenly and the silence suffocated the street. The air grew thick, hard to breathe without choking. Only the hum of cars on nearby streets disturbed the still air. The stocky cop lifted the radio from his belt and spoke into it.
"Maxie moved closer to me. This couldn't be happening right in front of us, especially not to Bucky. It went on forever. Finally the tall cop brought his nightstick down hard against Bucky's temple. The blow connected, making a loud crack. Maxie turned her face into my shoulder. I slid my arm over Maxie's back, hugging her closer."

In the spring of 1968 in Chicago, Sam is thirteen. He is the son of black Civil Rights activist Roland Childs, a confidante of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Like Dr. King, Mr. Childs is an uncompromising advocate and practitioner of nonviolence.

Sam and his older brother Steven (Stick) have grown up in the Movement. But lately, Stick, a voracious reader, has been surreptitiously studying the books and magazines being shared by his friends who are becoming involved with the Black Panthers.

When Sam and Stick encounter white thugs armed with bats, bottles, and sticks who are beating participants at the edge of the crowd at one of Father's protests, Stick gets into a fight and is bashed in the head with a broken bottle while trying to protect an elderly woman who is being attacked. The brothers split the scene with the approach of cops (They know which color will get arrested no matter who caused the trouble.) and head to the nearest hospital to get Stick's forehead sewn up.

To observe the treatment of the brothers at that Chicago hospital is to begin to understand what life was still like for blacks dealing with white America in 1968. For black kids like Sam and Stick, you could be in danger, or at least be treated inhumanely, at any given moment. For some like their close friend Bucky -- who had done absolutely nothing wrong -- the policemen who are supposed to be protecting you can so arbitrarily hurt you or kill you.

"Violence begets violence; hate begets hate; and toughness begets toughness. It is all a descending spiral, and the end is destruction -- for everyone." -- Dr. King, 1958

I have to admit that early on in reading THE ROCK AND THE RIVER, as I began to see the path Stick is embarking upon, I got prepared to tell stories of my high school friend Jamie Dunn who so greatly affected me back then with his advocacy and modeling of nonviolence. But my expectations of what was to come in THE ROCK AND THE RIVER had far too much to do with my simplistic perceptions dating back forty years of what the Black Panther Party was all about.

In the course of Sam Childs' coming of age story, amidst the American history I thought I knew so well, author Kekla Magoon has radically altered my understanding of the Black Panther Party. In her debut novel, Magoon, who studied history as an undergraduate, does an exceptional job of integrating many sides of very complex racial and political issues into this tense tale of an adolescent who has grown up in the Civil Rights Movement.

"Maybe now I could return to Father's world, bring all of myself back to the place I'd started from. Maybe I could learn to ignore the gnawing in the pit of my stomach telling me it wasn't enough."

There are powerful metaphors to be found in the huge building block structure that the brothers have been constructing for years in the room they share -- or shared until Stick was no longer willing or able to abide by Father's orders. Sam finds himself stuck between Father and Stick who are as similar in their uncompromising natures as they are seemingly different in their beliefs of what is the right thing to do. While engaging in an innocent relationship with his schoolmate Maxie, he has to deal on a daily basis with life and death issues.

Sam must make critical decisions on whether or not -- and if so, how -- to get involved. Will he be the rock or the river? Like me, he must come to a true understanding of the philosophy that his father lives by and what the Black Panthers and brotherhood are really all about.

I purchased this book on a friend's recommendation and I was not disappointed. It offers a fresh perspective on a topic that is often rendered in black and white. I found experiencing the rise of the Black Panther movement in Chicago through the conflicted eyes of a teenage boy to be an interesting take and one that really made you feel the emotions involved. It was helpful in understanding the nuanced nature of the racial conflicts of the time period as well as being a good story that pulls you in to the characters lives. I thought it was well written and very much enjoyed reading the book - looking forward to reading more by this author.

Fantastic book. Was required reading for one of my kids, but I ended picking it up and finishing it the same day. While it may take place in the 60s, the same issues confront our society today. So glad it was required reading for my 7th grader. Strongly recommend for all middle school students.

I decided to purchase The Rock and the River after reading positive editorial reviews, and was rewarded in doing so. To call it a stunning coming of age story is not merely enough, as it transcends the genre. It is beautifully written and the prose is deep without overshadowing the humanity of the characters. It is one of those novels that will make you think, cry, and remember. I was disappointed to learn that this is the author's first novel (while at the same time being pleasantly surprised by the fact). I look forward to reading her next book.

I chose to read this because my son has to read a historical fiction novel next month. We were traveling to Chicago and I thought this would be a good read. I enjoyed it. I like how the author challenged me to think about this time in history in new ways and from a perspective I didn't know. -JH

Excellent for young teen reading