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The Rock and the River

The Rock and the River
This edition: eBook, 304 pages
Ages: 9 - 14
Availability: Available for immediate download
List Price: $5.99
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Awards and Nominations

  • ALA Best Books For Young Adults
  • ALA Best Books for Young Adults Nominee
  • ALA Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Award
  • ALA Notable Children's Books
  • Bank Street Best Books of the Year
  • Capitol Choices List (DC)
  • CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children's Book Council)
  • Nutmeg Children's Book Award Nominee (CT)
  • Texas Tayshas High School Reading List
  • Virginia Readers’ Choice Award Master List
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Description



In 1968 Chicago, it’s not easy for thirteen-year-old Sam to be the son of known civil rights activist Roland Childs. Especially when his older brother, Stick, starts keeping to himself. Then, one day, Sam finds something under Stick’s bed that changes everything: literature about the Black Panthers. Suddenly, nothing feels certain anymore. And when Dr. King is shot and killed, Sam’s father’s words are no longer enough to make him believe in change….This moving, coming-of-age story gracefully encompasses the scope of the struggle between the civil rights and black power movements through an intimate and relatable lens.
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"An intensely significant story..."
-- Sundee T. Frazier, winner of the ALA 2008 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award
"This is an essential story that has been waiting for its time and its teller. A brave and brilliant accomplishment."
-- Helen Frost, Printz Honor Award-winning author of Spinning Through the Universe
"Vividly, poignantly, and without compromise, Kekla Magoon takes us to the heart of a world in the messy business of monumental change. The Rock and the River is an extraordinary book that brings unflinchingly to life an extraordinary moment in time."
-- Tim Wynne-Jones, author of Rex Zero and the End of the World
"What a rich and passionate debut novel! With both intensity and humor, the story that unfolds is at once riveting, disquieting, and ultimately most satisfying."
-- Ellen Levine, Caldecott Honor Award-winning author of Henry's Freedom Box
"This explosive coming-of-age story, taut with tension and protest, propelled me along like the river of its title. Magoon is most certainly a new and serious talent to watch. An intensely significant story of emotional and historical depth that resonates with relevancy for our age."
-- Sundee T. Frazier, winner of the ALA 2008 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award for Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It
Broadway World, January 6, 2010
..."Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady" - David Bergen Brophy (Collins-An Imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books) • "Rock and the River" - Kekla Magoon (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing) MOTION PICTURE CATEGORIES Outstanding ...