Book review: The Rock and the River

Magoon, Kekla. (2009). The Rock and the River. Aladdin Books.

I knew, as soon as I discovered that this book was set in Chicago in 1968, that the story would be a turbulent one. It did not disappoint. Sam Childs is the 13-year-old son of a famous civil rights leader who follows the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ghandi, those of nonviolent resistance. On the other hand, Sam's 17-year-old brother Steven, whom he calls "Stick," decides he is tired of "leaning [his] back against a wall and expecting the wall to move" and secretly joins the Black Panthers, of whom his father disapproves. Magoon tells the story of a loving family against the backdrop of these contrasting movements with the same end goal, racial equality. She makes no excuses for the Panthers' acts of violence, depicts them threatening police officers in one scene as well as including several scenes involving Stick bringing a gun into the house and hiding it. Additionally she includes the "political education meetings" with talks of revolution. However, in a well-done "even a stopped clock is right twice a day" move, she points out that the Panthers held breakfasts for hungry children and set up free medical clinics in poor neighborhoods. The story has several turning points in which Sam wonders which movement is most effective: an attack on several elderly people at one of Sam's father's rallies, the unprovoked beating of a friend by police officers, the assassination of Dr. King. The climactic moment comes at the end, and is gut-wrenching for anyone who has a brother, a father or a son. And Sam learns that violence is never an answer. Magoon earned a well-deserved Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award for this work. An author's note at the end gives a brief history of the Civil Rights Movement itself as well as the Black Panthers.