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Summary
Summary
From Newbery Medal-winner Mildred Taylor comes an unforgettable story about the Logan family, set a generation earlier than Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. David and Hammer are young boys in the early 1900s when all the wells go dry except theirs. During that long, dry summer the Logan boys learn that being men has more to do with using their brains than their fists.
Author Notes
Mildred D. Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi on September 13, 1943 and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. She received a Bachelor's degree in Education from the University of Toledo in 1965 and then spent two years in the Peace Corp teaching English and History in Ethiopia. She received a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of Colorado. During this time, she joined the Black Student Alliance and assisted in creating the black studies program at the university. After graduation and before becoming a full-time author, she worked for the Black Education Program as a study skills director.
Using her personal experiences and family stories she heard while growing up, Taylor has created several historical fiction books that offer realistic portraits of African-American families in the mid-1900s. Her novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry won the Newbery Award in 1977 and was made into a television movie in 1978. The Well: David's Story received the 1997 Jason Award. She has also received the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Jane Addams Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Christopher Award multiple times. She currently lives in Colorado.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Taylor's compact novella revisits the long-suffering Logan family, this time focusing on the boyhood of David (father of Cassie Logan from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry) In the early 1900s, all the wells in their part of Mississippi have run dry-all except for the Logans'. White neighbors come from miles around to collect water, but despite the Logans' generosity, they treat David and his family with enormous disrespect. When young Charlie Simms's taunting of the Logan boys turns physical, David's older brother Hammer chooses to retaliate-a move that causes him and his family pain from all sides. Taylor, obviously in tune with these fully-developed characters, creates for them an intense and compelling situation and skillfully delivers powerful messages about racism and moral fortitude. This insightful read stands on its own, but will have a special resonance for fans of the series. Ages 8-12. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
In the early 1900s, a drought threatens the Mississippi community where the Logan family are substantial landowners. That they are proud and black sets them apart; that they control a seemingly inexhaustible supply of water -- which they share with all -- makes them a target for repercussions. David Logan and his brother tangle with a mean-spirited white teenager in this story that reverberates in the heart long after the final paragraph has been read. From HORN BOOK 1995, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-7. "Charlie Simms was always mean, and that's the truth of it." From the first line, this short, intense novel of racist violence is told with the immediacy of a family narrative. David Logan (the father in Taylor's 1977 Newbery Award winner, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry) tells a story of his boyhood in rural Mississippi at a time when "uppity niggers" can be hanged for thinking themselves equal to whites and the horror of slavery still haunts his mother's memory. The Logans are among the few black families to own land, and during a prolonged drought, they have a well of sweet water, which they share with their neighbors, black and white. Most people are grateful, but the white Simms family hates being beholden to blacks. The tense confrontation erupts in beatings and terror. The cast is large for so short a novel--it's hard sometimes to keep track of all the people in the community--but the Logan family is beautifully individualized. David is able to heed his father's warning, "Use your head, not your fists," but David's hotheaded older brother can't bear the constant humiliation. The well of the title is also a metaphor for the history of the place: both the bigotry that lies beneath the surface and the sweet strength of family ties. (Reviewed December 15, 1994)0803718020Hazel Rochman
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6Another contribution to the Logan family saga, this is Father's account of an incident from his boyhood. During a drought in 1910, 10-year-old David Logan's family has the only working well in their part of Mississippi. They share their water willingly with both black and white neighbors, but white teenager Charlie Simms tests their generosity, goading David's older brother Hammer into a fight requiring restitution in the form of labor on the Simms's farm. Charlie and his brother get even for the disgrace of Hammer's beating by secretly contaminating the Logans' well with dead animals, only to be exposed and punished when a neighbor reveals their act. While David narrates, this is really Hammer's story; his pride and steely determination not to be put down are the source of the novel's action and power. Readers will feel the Logans' fear and righteous anger at the injustice and humiliation they suffer because they are black. As in The Friendship (Dial, 1987), Taylor has used her gift for storytelling and skillful characterization to craft a brief but compelling novel about prejudice and the saving power of human dignity.Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
