Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Penguin Books USA Inc. 1976
This book follows Cassie Logan and her brothers in Mississippi in the 1930's. They are a unique African American family in that they own their own land in a town where African Americans are usually sharecroppers. The primary theme of the book is racism. At school, the children's books are in poor condition and labeled "nigra," the sharecropping system leaves African American families with no money and at times in debt to land owners, and Cassie and her brothers are treated as second class citizens by  white families in the community. Although there is no formal Ku Klux Klan, white men in town (primarily the Wallaces) are extremely violent towards African Americans- at one point three men are severely burned and another is tarred and feathered. Cassie and her younger brothers experience racism for the first time, while their older brother Stacey has a stronger grip on it. Racism is the strongest theme, but there are also moral themes (cheating on a test/honor), the bonds between family members, and economic struggles in the novel as well.
I would say this book is very teachable and would probably be best for 7th graders. Although Cassie is in the 4th grade, there are some vocab words difficult for younger readers and the theme requires more maturity- the n word is used in a couple places. There's a lot of action that will keep readers interested and though the novel is told in first person by Cassie, her brothers play such a strong role in it that boys would be interested as well.