The Friendship

Rating:
Summary: Monique gives two thumbs up
Review: I read the book called The Friendship by Mildred D. Taylor. I really like the book. The book takes place in the 1930's in Mississippi. The part I like is when the children went to the store and Mr. John Wallace, who is White, said that they better not touch anything. He said that because the children are Black and he is racist. Little Man had his hands on the counter because he was looking at the shiny new belt buckles and lockets, cuff links, and tie clips in a glass case, and then Mr. John Wallace said he better take his dirty hands off the counter or he'll chop off his hands with an ax. Then Little Man said, "My hands ain't dirty." Mr. John Wallace said that because his hands are Black, but Little Man didn't understand because he is little.

Mr. Tom Bee would call Mr. John Wallace by "John" and Black folks were supposed to call Whites by "Mr." And "Mrs." But Mr. Tom Bee called him by "John." One day Mr. Tom Bee called Mr. John Wallace by his first name. John Wallace got angry because Mr. Tom Bee called him "John" in front of other White folks. So, then Mr. John Wallace shot Mr. Tom Bee in his leg.

I like the book because some books that I read I get bored with. In The Friendship I was really interested in the book. I was interested because it shows me what Blacks went though back in the 1930's.

Rating:
Summary: Amy gives it two thumbs up!
Review: The Friendship by Mildred D. Taylor is about a little Black boy Tom who saw John, a White boy, drowning in a swamp. He asked the White boy, "Where are you going?" He said he's running away. The Black boy said, "You could live with me." So he did, and they grew up together. Then the depression came, and the Whites were more respected than Blacks.

Years later Mr. Tom Bee went to get his tobacco at the Wallace Store. That's Mr. John Wallace's store. Mr. Tom Bee called Mr. John by his first name without saying "Mr." Mr. John got mad and told Mr. Tom Bee to leave. Mr. Tom said, "Bye, John". Black people were not supposed to call Whites by their first names then. As Mr. Tom Bee went down the stairs John shot him in the leg, because Mr. John got tired of Mr. Tom Bee calling him by his first name. The people though Mr. John was going to shoot Mr. Tom Bee again but he didn't. There was no other sound...

I think this is a good book because it tells us about our history. It also tells us the history of Blacks and Whites in the 1930's.

Rating:
Summary: The Friendship: Good Book
Review: The Friendship is about four African-American children in the 1930's: Little Man, Stacey, Christopher-John, and Cassie. Cassie is telling the story from her point of view. When the children go into the store for Aunt Callie's head medicine, Stacey tells them not to touch anything. But Little Man doesn't listen and touches something, and Mr. Wallace's (the store owner) son gets mad, insults him, and threatens to chop his hands off. When they leave the store, they meet Mr. Tom Bee and he says to wait for him. After he comes out, all five of them walk to Aunt Callie's.

Mildred D. Taylor is a good author, but in this book she just makes the story hang at the end. The end is when Mr. Tom Bee goes into the Wallace store for some chewing tobacco and there are eight White men inside, including Jeremy's father who is very racist. In the other story, Mississippi Bridge, Jeremy's dad hits Jeremy on the side of the head when Jeremy is talking to a Black man. Mr. Tom Bee asks Mr. Wallace for some chewing tobacco, but he keeps calling Mr. Wallace "John" because Mr. Tom Bee saved Mr. Wallace's life when he was young. The White men get very angry, so Mr. Tom Bee leaves the store. But there is a loud bang and Mr. Tom Bee falls to the ground. When the Children look back, they see Mr. Wallace standing with a shotgun pointing toward Mr. Tom Bee. But he keeps calling Mr. Wallace "John". Then the story ends.

Rating:
Summary: Alyssa's review
Review: The story takes place in Mississippi in the 1930's. Mr. John Wallace had told the
Black sand the kids to call him "MR. John," not to call him by his first name because that's not right according to Mr. Wallace. The kids are allowed in Mr. Wallace's store. But Cassie and her brothers have been warned twice not go into the store because they will get into trouble. Then Mr. Tom Bee went into the store to buy medicine for Aunt Callie because she was very sick. Then Mr. Tom Bee went fishing. He had some fish in his hands and the kids and Mr. Tom Bee went into the store to buy some sardines and some candy canes. He handed out the candy to the kids. One of them had said no because "My hands were too dirty because " Mr. Tom Bee said, "Don't listen to them."

Tom Bee and the kids went walking to the store again to buy tobacco. Cassie asked Mr. Tom Bee, "Why do you call Mr. Wallace by his first name?" "Because I had saved his life twice when he almost drowned. I gave him a place to sleep and something to eat," Mr. Tom Bee answered. In the store Mr. Tom Bee called him by his first name in front of the men. The other men said, "Are you going let him to talk to you like that?" One of his sons was looking at him mad. Then Mr. Wallace went outside with the gun and shot him in the leg. He said," You owe me, John. I saved your life twice. You will stay the same till judgment day." "Then you have to kill me here on the road," Mr. Tom Bee said. Then he said his name two to three different times. The kids started to cry and they stared at him. And there was no sound of him.

I really liked the book a lot. At the end of the book was kind of sad when Mr. Wallace shot Mr. Tom Bee in the leg. I learned that most White didn't got along with the Black s at all. Also, I learned that many Whites didn't treat the Blacks right at all.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, Good ending
Review: The story was about Cassie, Stacey, Little Man, Christopher-John, and Jeremy. It's about the kids buying things from the Wallace Store and meeting up with Jeremy. They get medicine for Aunt Callie because she had a bad headache. The kids are different than Jeremy because Jeremy is White, and so is his dad who sits with John Wallace in the store. Jeremy's dad doesn't want him to hang out with Black kids or his dad will punish him. He will really get in trouble or hit. And Jeremy doesn't want that to happen to him so his dad tells him to stay away from the Black kids. The Whites don't show respect to the Blacks who come to buy things that they need at the Wallace Store.

When Mr. Tom Bee goes into the Wallace Store, John Wallace treats Mr. Tom Bee with no respect and tells him off in front of the Whites. The Whites start laughing when Mr. Tom Bee gets told off. Mr. Tom Bee had saved Mr. John Wallace's life when they were kids. Mr. John Wallace made a deal with him and he let him call him by his first name. When Mr. Tom Bee came into the Wallace Store again, there were a lot of Whites in the store. Mr. Tom Bee called John by his first name in front of all the Whites. The Whites were all looking at Mr. Tom Bee. The Whites said, "Are you going to let the ---call you John, by your first name?" Mr. John Wallace threw Mr. Tom Bee out of the Wallace Store, shot Mr. Tom Bee in the knee, and said; "Don't call me by my first name until the judgment day of your life." Mr. John Wallace said to Mr. Tom Bee, "You call me by Mr. John Wallace, but not by first name. It will be MR. John Wallace for the rest of your life."

I liked the ending. It was kind of a great book. But it needs more ending to it so it can be more interesting and fun. I would like it to end differently, like instead of Mr. Tom Bee getting shot on the leg, I would want Mr. Tom Bee just walking out of the store and just calling him "Mr. John Wallace" and with no problem without Mr. Tom Bee getting hurt and without getting shot on the leg. I recommend this book to anyone else.

Rating:
Summary: The difference between Blacks and Whites.
Review: This book was about how Blacks needed to show respect for Whites in 1933. Blacks showed respect by calling Whites "Mister", "Missus", or "Miss". But the southern Whites didn't have to do that because they thought they were much better than all the Blacks in the world.

The story takes place in the Wallace store. There were these kids named Stacey, Christopher-John, Little Man, and Cassie. The names of Mr. Wallace's sons were Dewberry and Thurston. Cassie and her brothers went inside the Wallace store, and then Dewberry and Thurston told Little Man that his hands were dirty. They were so dirty according to them that they could probably grow plants on Little Man's hands, and they also told him that they were going to cut his hands off. They all went outside the store and sat down. Little Man took his hands and put them closely to the ground to see if Dewberry and Thurston were right. Jeremy Simms started talking to Stacey, then they saw Mr. Tom Bee going inside the Wallace store. Mr. Tom Bee told Dewberry to give him some sardines, but Dewberry told Mr. Tom Bee that he already got plenty of charges so he doesn't need any sardines. Christopher-John walked inside the Wallace store and stared at the candies. Mr. Tom Bee told Dewberry to give him some candy canes, too. Dewberry told Mr. Tom Bee, "You don't need no candy canes neither, Tom, you got no teeth to chew them with." Dewberry still wouldn't give Mr. Tom Bee his sardines and candy canes, so Mr. Tom Bee told Dewberry to go get his daddy because he would get it for him. Mr. Tom Bee also said, "Where is John anyway?" Mr. Tom Bee shouldn't have said that because Blacks shouldn't call Whites by their first names. Finally Mr. Wallace came in the store and asked Mr. Tom Bee what he wanted. Mr. Tom Bee told Mr. Wallace what he wanted, and Mr. Wallace gave it to him. Mr. Wallace told his sons to go outside and work on something else, and shut the door on their way out. Mr. Wallace told Mr. Tom Bee that he couldn't call him by his first name any more, that this was the last time he's going to call him that and when the next time come, he better show some respect by calling him Mr. Wallace. Mr. Tom Bee walked out and gave the kids the candy canes that he bought. Jeremy was standing there too, so Mr. Tom Bee gave Jeremy a candy cane. Jeremy took it and put it in his pocket. Cassie and her three brothers went over to Aunt Callie's. Stacey asked Mr. Tom Bee why he called Mr. Wallace by his first name, and not by "Mr. Wallace"? Mr. Tom Bee told them the story that back in the day Mr. Tom Bee took care of Mr. Wallace when they were younger. Mr. Wallace told Mr. Tom Bee that he promised as long as he lived he would be known as "John" to Mr. Tom Bee. The kids thought that it was time to go home so they started walking, and they past by the Wallace store. Mr. Tom Bee told the kids to wait outside while he went inside and got something. They saw Jeremy standing there and didn't say a word. Mr. Tom Bee went inside and he saw Mr. Wallace, Jeremy's dad Mr. Charlie Simms, and some other White people sitting there staring at Mr. Tom Bee while he went over to Mr. Wallace. Mr. Tom Bee told him, "Hey John, give me some-a that chewing tobacco! Forgot to get it when I was in before." Mr. Wallace told Mr. Tom Bee to never call him "John" again, but Mr. Tom Bee still called Mr. Wallace "John". Mr. Charlie Simms told Mr. Wallace, "Are you going to let that old man call you that?" Mr. Tom Bee kept asking for his tobacco. Mr. Wallace reached back to a shelf and got the tobacco and placed it on the counter. Mr. Tom Bee got it and said, "Thank you, John, just put that on my charges." Cassie and her brothers were going to leave, but they heard a click. Mr. Wallace fired a shotgun on Mr. Tom Bee's right leg. Mr. Wallace said, "Tom, you made me do that, and you got to stop calling me "John" and I mean now." Mr. Wallace continued, "You gonna learn to address me proper." Mr. Tom Bee started talking, "Till the judgment day! John! John! John!"

I liked this book because I learned a lot about history, and how some Whites treated some Blacks back in the 1930's. You need to show respect for your elders, if you don't, then you will have your consequences. Also, the book teaches you if you keep a promise to a person, you can't break it, even if someone is by your side and you don't want to get embarrassed by that person, you still have to keep your promise.