roseleaf24 's review for:

All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor

5.0

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This a hefty book, in size, in topic, and in time covered. It read quickly, though. I was enthralled with Cassie's story. This book follows Cassie Logan, familiar to those who have read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and other books in the series, from the time she's 20 until she's about 40. Historically, that picks up during World War II, as her brothers are being sent overseas, and ends in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. This was a fascinating and personal look at the Great Migration, post-war racism, and the Civil Rights Movement. Cassie travels from Mississippi to Toledo to California and Colorado, and though the signs are different, she experiences racism everywhere.

This has all the elements of a coming-of-age story, as she figures out where her life is going and falls in love, but this is definitely not a children's book. It fits much more comfortably on a YA shelf. There is no explicit content, but there is reference to rape and doctors' abuses of gynecological exams, and I can't see a middle grade reader being able to keep interest in reading about an adult becoming more adult.