The Well

Author: Mildred Taylor                        Title:  The Well

Book Genre: Historical Fiction             Publishing Info: Dial Books NY, 1995 (92pgs

Summary: This is a story set in the early 1900’s, where slavery is not seen as much, but racial tension and discrimination is definitely a problem.  African Americans are allowed to own land and it just so happens that the Logan’s own about 200 acres.  All the wells have gone dry, except for the Logan’s.  The Logan family shares with the community, both black and white folk.  There is one family that happens to be white, that the Logan boys find it hard to share with because they are very disrespectful and stretch the truth, to make Hammer and David Logan look bad and get punished.  The tension between the boys cause so much turmoil, that the only water for the community is spoiled by a trick that the Simms’ boys play, just this time they get caught.

Personal rating:  ****

Rationale: There are many great lessons to be learned from this story, as well as historically based truths to be reminded of.  The characters are easy to relate to, even if you are not of the same race.  It is an unpredictable book, which makes it a book that one does not want to put down.

Reading level: 4.3                                                            Interest level: 4-8

Thematic Areas: Racial issues and discrimination, family, social issues, community, character, 

Content Areas: History and Social Studies

Potential Problems or Difficulties: The “n” word is used throughout the story because it helps portray the racial discrimination of the time.

Possible use in classroom:  Have students choose an instance in which a character in the book displays great courage.• Describe the incident. • Describe the way in which the person behaved courageously. • Tell why (specifically) this act was courageous.

Have students choose an incident from the book in which a character acted in a manner that did not display self-control. • Describe the incident. • State the actions taken by that character which displayed a lack of self-control. • What actions could the character have taken, that would have displayed better self-control. 

Have the students to research, on the computer, the time period in which the story takes place and what could have been different if people would have learned from the past.