This post civil war story skims issues related to segregation of races that occurred in Mississippi. A young boy named Jeremy has grown up in a white household that has many prejudices about blacks. His father will publicly discriminate against blacks but, Jeremy sees these people as significant beings just as himself. Jeremy hangs out at his father’s store, which is right near the bus stop. One day Jeremy notices that a lot of people are traveling by bus and approaches a black family at the stop. They say that their grandma is going to help with a relative that is sick and they are there to send her on her way. The grandchildren leave before the bus departs to go make their milk delivery and Jeremy follows. On the way, they notice that the river is up at the bridge. Jeremy makes his way back to the store and notices that the bus is still there. He hears shouting from the bus driver and sees that the blacks are having to get off the bus to make room for the white people; every black person including the Grandma that he met at the stop. Jeremy sees another black acquaintance, Josias, get shoved off the bus and flee from the scene. Jeremy follows him, hoping his father will not notice, and makes it to the bridge in time to see the bus pass. As the bus is making its way over the flooded bridge it looses control and spins into the river. Ironically, the bus full of white people is planted upside down in the river. Josias dove in and began getting the passengers out of the water. He noticed that none of the victims were moving; they were dead. All the white passengers have died in the crash. Jeremy and Josias stayed near the river all day even though he had been judged so harshly because of his race by that very bus driver and passengers.
I would use this book to introduce topics of segregation and typical life for an African American living in this time. I would use this book with a mature audience of students because strong prejudice terms are used in the book to emphasize the stereotypes of blacks.
