Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South by Wade Hudson - OPTIONAL

Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South by Wade Hudson, 258 pages. NON-FICTION Crown Books for Young Readers, 2021. $18.  

Language: PG (5 swears); Mature Content: PG (refers to illicit relationship); Violence: PG-13 (Black man hunted down and shot, Emmitt Till's death, missing Civil Rights workers, 16th Street bombing-nothing graphic, but upsetting)

BUYING ADVISORY: MS- OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW

Wade is a young Black child growing up in the South during the 1950's and 1960's. The story starts when he is in kindergarten and goes through his time in college. He has a close, big family and tight-knit community. He enjoys school, church and baseball but is aware of the segregation and social unrest happening around him. He works hard and goes to college, where he becomes involved in the Civil Rights Movement.

I wanted to love this book because I love reading about the Civil Rights Movement and I enjoyed Warriors Don't Cry and This Promise of Change, but this book fell flat for many reasons. First, it is choppy and lacks a chronological storyline.  Second, the beginning is slow and detailed without building any depth for any of the characters. Third, when Hudson talks about the Civil Rights movement or some of the historical events surrounding it, he doesn't explain the events and assumes his readers have the background knowledge that go with the events. Overall, I was bored and right when the events would get interesting, like when he got arrested, it was glossed over. All of the characters in this book are Black, including the main character, Wade Hudson.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson