I am writing a review of the book Mississippi Trial,1955. It was written by Chris

Crowe. The book is historical fiction and is in the African-American genre. The copyright

date is 2002.


I would recommend this book for middle school students. I recommend it for three

reasons. The first reason is that a student can learn a lot about injustice.

The second reason is that it shows how relationships between people can change. The

third reason is that it is a suspenseful book.


The book is about the murder of an African American boy in Mississippi in 1955.

What happens is that the boy whistles at a white woman. Three white men and a woman

kidnap and kill him for whistling. The cops catch two of the men. The two men go to

trial. The jury is all white. Their guilt is obvious but the jury acquits them. The acquittal

is not justice. The character loved his grandfather and wanted to live with him. His

relationship changes as he learns of his grandfather’s racism. His grandfather wanted to

preserve the ways of the old south. The book is suspenseful. You don’t know what is

going to happen until near the end. What happens is shocking by today’s standards. It

was not shocking to have happened in the south in the 1950s.