Road To Awakening

Nancy Weatherspoon
Turnkey Press (2005)
ISBN 0975480375
Reviewed by Lorraine Robins for Reader Views (7/06)

This book was historical fiction. I believe the author's main point was to educate the reader about racism in the south, specifically Texas, in the 1950's. She illustrates the point with passages like the following:

"I sang the Sunday School song about Jesus loving all the children of the world, 'red and yellow, black and white'....Yet I looked at the signs in the little Texas town. The signs said Whites Only. The signs said Coloreds Here. I saw the churches in Texas for white people, and I saw the churches for black people..."

The historical part of this book, such as the Jim Crow laws of the south, I found to be very important. I believe that anyone who is not aware of this history, perhaps teenagers and pre-teens, would benefit from learning about our country's past with racism. The book also speaks about the KKK, and the Civil Rights movement.

What I did not like about the book was the fictional story the author told. I found it to be very unrealistic. I also felt it had a forced happy ending, which is historically untrue. In addition, while I think pre-teens and teenagers would benefit from learning about our racist history, there are things in the book that are not appropriate for young people. This includes some very graphic violence, and excessive use of the "n" word. I believe the author's heart was in the right place about racism being wrong, but I didn't agree with the way she expressed herself in this book.

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