The Well : David's Story (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Charlie Simms was always mean, and that's the truth of it..." (more)
Key Phrases: molasses bread, Charlie Simms, Aunt Callie, John Henry (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Praising the fully developed characters, PW said that this prequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry "skillfully delivers powerful messages about racism and moral fortitude." Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6?Another contribution to the Logan family saga, this is Father's account of an incident from his boyhood. During a drought in 1910, 10-year-old David Logan's family has the only working well in their part of Mississippi. They share their water willingly with both black and white neighbors, but white teenager Charlie Simms tests their generosity, goading David's older brother Hammer into a fight requiring restitution in the form of labor on the Simms's farm. Charlie and his brother get even for the disgrace of Hammer's beating by secretly contaminating the Logans' well with dead animals, only to be exposed and punished when a neighbor reveals their act. While David narrates, this is really Hammer's story; his pride and steely determination not to be put down are the source of the novel's action and power. Readers will feel the Logans' fear and righteous anger at the injustice and humiliation they suffer because they are black. As in The Friendship (Dial, 1987), Taylor has used her gift for storytelling and skillful characterization to craft a brief but compelling novel about prejudice and the saving power of human dignity.?Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140386424
• ISBN-13: 978-0140386424
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #264,472 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the reading!, June 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Well: David's Story (Hardcover)

This book is great! I would love to teach this book during my internship this fall. I have always been fascinated with history. Mildred Taylor has such a smooth way in which she writes her books. Not only are they sad and depressing, but they are motivating and enlightening. Her many books illustrate how evil and selfish our country was and in some ways still is today. I really appreciate the positive, strong image that is portrayed with the Logan family. Nothing makes me happier.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Post-Civil War racism to scale, January 1, 2004

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Well: David's Story (Puffin Teenage Fiction) (Paperback)

How do you convey the horror of slavery, the very degradation of it, to small children? How can you tell a story where these problems aren't watered down and accepted in some way? "The Well" renders these requirements so perfectly that it's a crime and a shame that it wasn't even a Newberry Honor book. This story plays with the reader through a million different methods. Throughout the story the characters are fighting between pride and survival. The boy, Hammer, refuses to react like anything less than a human being, equal to his peers in the face of antagonism. The fact that his peers happen to be the nasty racist Simms brothers only adds gas to the flame. Subsequently, the reader is torn. On the one hand, it is infinitely satisfying to read about Hammer pounding the horrid Charlie Simms into pulp. On the other hand, you can't help but feel like giving Hammer a quick slap to the face when, after finishing months of hard toil on the Simms farm for the beating Hammer gave Charlie, the book simply says, "Hammer made a point of going back to the Simmses' farm, found Charlie alone, and knocked him down. Again". It's a brilliant sentence with so many loaded emotions behind it you'd like to scream. Taylor's language is adept at conveying the real horrors of the time. Ma Rachel's tale of how her mother was whipped in an attempt to keep her child's name is an echo of the scene in the mini-series "Roots" when Kunta Kinte is told to call himself "Toby". This book is chock full of violence and hatred. It is, in many ways, perfect. The author's choice of not dividing the text into chapters is particularly interesting. Some difficulty might be had reading it aloud, if only because there are only natural stopping points. "The Well" would pair well with other tales of intolerance, even Taylor's other books from that time period. It is a beautiful tale.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review : The Well, March 30, 2003

A Kid's Review

The Well is a very compelling and resonant book by Mildred D. Taylor, the Newberry Award winner for Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. You will experience many emotions while reading this book, which are not limited to anger and sadness .The Well is set in the south during the mid 1910s, a time in which deep-rooted racism is practiced and where whites can do and say anything they please with abandon to blacks.
David Logan tells a poignant story of his boyhood in Smallsville, Mississippi when blacks could be hanged for considering themselves as equals to whites. The Logan family, the main characters in the book, are among few black families to own land. During an awful drought, they have the only well of sweet water in the whole town of Smallsville. The author eloquently describes how the Logans believe that the water is not theirs to hoard but gods gift to share with black and white folks alike. Everyone is grateful to the Logans except the white Simms family who hate being obliged to blacks. Davids family lives by his fathers words, use your head not your fists but his insubordinate hotheaded brother Hammer is sick of the constant degrading of Charlie Simses and when Charlie pushes his handicapped brother with bitter rancor to the ground, Hammer reacts and does the unthinkable.
The characters are quickly and clearly brought into life, the setting is vividly drawn despite the frequent but historical use of the N word. The large cast of characters is masterfully individualized with opinions, beliefs, personalities and ways of life. I personally gained tremendous admiration for Mildred D. Taylor as an author for making such a luring plot seem so stupendous in a small book.