The Rock and The River

The Rock and the River

• Genre: Fiction; young adult historical
• Originally Published: 2009
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 550L; grades 5-9
• Structure/Length: 21 chapters; approx. 300 pages; approx. 6 hours, 45 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: In 1968 Chicago, 13-year-old Sam Childs struggles with the pressures surrounding his position as the son of a prominent civil rights leader who advocates peaceful protests and civil disobedience. His older brother, Stick, introduces him to Black Panther literature, turning Sam’s identity struggle into a larger moral dilemma.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Some violence in the forms of police harassment, mob beatings, illegal interrogation techniques, and unprovoked police-involved shootings

Kekla Magoon, Author

• Bio: Born in 1980; identifies herself as biracial; grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana; earned a BA in History from Northwestern University and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts; received an NAACP Image Award; was a National Book Award finalist and a recipient of three Coretta Scott King Honors; received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, a lifetime achievement award for writers of YA fiction
• Other Works: Fire in the Streets (2012); X: A Novel (2015); Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People (2021)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Impact of Racism on Personal Development
• The Persistence of Abuse by Authority
• Action Versus Inaction

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding through the lens of history about the roots of the cultural, economic, and social divisions between Black people and white people in America.
• Read and analyze paired texts that reflect this theme about the impact of racism on the development of young Black people.
• Analyze and communicate the ways in which Sam Child’s character is torn between two different strategies for coming to terms with race in America.
• Analyze key scenes that reveal Sam’s character arc and draw conclusions in structured essays regarding Sam’s moral dilemma and his decision about how to handle his position in society.