A review by sonshinelibrarian
Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe

4.25

This is a brutal and well-told story. A fictional boy finds himself caught up in the death and trial of Emmett Till. Crowe does a really good job of showing the harmful attitudes of many of the characters but also complicating them. Hiram's grandfather is particularly interesting as he is extremely racist and holds vile beliefs but is a loving grandfather who truly cares for Hiram. The dichotomy that existed (and sometimes still exists) of people with horrific beliefs and even actions who are not purely mustach-twirling villains is hard to show well and Crowe handles it with delicacy. Seeing Hiram's views and understandings grow drives the story forward and the reader is left feeling horrified and sad with the situation but encouraged by Hiram's development. This is not an easy book to read but it's a well-developed fictional look at a terrible event in American history.