The interesting thing about Roll of Thunder is that it's probably been the most important book I've ever read -- that and the others in the series -- in terms of my understanding how certain perspectives about racial relations have been passed down through the years. I remember rereading the series a couple of years ago and being struck by this thought like "my God, these kids [the black protags] are explicitly being taught by their parents not to trust whites, and the reasons for that make so much sense. I'd teach my kids the same thing. And if I grew up with that, and I were taught that, and it made sense to me, then wouldn't I pass it on? And what does it take to move past that way of thinking, and how much does that explain of the divisiveness in American society today -- how do you create mutual trust when there's such a rock-solid foundation for mistrust less than three generations ago?" I remember being so stricken with this new sense of what the heritage of racism in this country means that I had to be reminded that ongoing acts of racism are also part of the story of race in this country. Not that I thought that racism wasn't alive and well. But I was absorbed in a new sense of how history is intertwined with the present, and how there's no such thing as "used to happen" because the things that did happen then are still part of who people are and the way we live today.

Anyway, the book may still be beyond Charlie's reading level, but with luck you may like it and then it won't be so painful for you? Also, if you'd like, I'd be happy to write out a kind of readers' guide that might help Charlie with it and take some of the pressure off you. (If you couldn't tell, it's been a really important book to me, and one I like talking about!) Or, you know, you could use the Sparknotes that already exist. Heh.