The Well

Taylor, M.D.  (1995). The well. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.

The Well falls into the genre of traditional/multicultural literature.  If fits into traditional literature because the story was once told by word of mouth by the author’s family.  In the forward the author writes a note telling about how when she was a child her family would tell her stories about the past and her parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and other members of her family.  She said that they all taught her about history and this was the history about herself, the history that she would not find in a textbook.  The Well is a story that was originally told by David Logan and Mildred Taylor was the one who put it down on paper.  It fits into multicultural literature because it is about a group of people that in history have been marginalized.  It is about an African American family and the hardships they must face with white people even after slavery is over.

The setting of this book is in Mississippi in the early twentieth century.  The setting is integral to the story because if this story would have taken place in another time, such as the present, well there would be no story.  The story is centered around the Logan family during a drought.  The Logan family was a very prosperous family, even compared to the white families of their time.  There was a drought and they were the only people in town whose well did not dry up.  The mama is a very kind lady and shares it with all who need it. 

You can see the conflict from the beginning of the story on page 10.  The narrator, David Logan, tells that there their family and the Simms have never gotten along.  This sets the stage for all the major events that will happen in this story.  David’s older brother, Hammer, is stubborn and doesn’t always mind.  He does not like the Simms or many white people for that matter.  Hammer and Charlie Simms have their words many times throughout the story.  He doesn’t like that his mama allows the Simm family to get water from their well since they are disrespectful to their family and call them niggers. 

There is foreshadowing on page 25 that something bad will happen with the well when Charlie and Hammer are having an argument.  Charlie says, “Maybe one day you won’t have it!  Maybe one day y’all’ll find somethin’ dead floatin’ in it!”  Later on in the story Charlie and his brother Ed-Rose do something to their well.  You’ll have to read the book to find out what and how the situation is resolved. 

The Logan’s father and two other sons are not present much throughout the story because they are away doing lumber work.  When the father is there, he teaches Hammer and David a valuable lesson.  He teaches them to use their minds and their words to fight not their fist.  At this time in history, if an African American were to do anything to a white person, they could be hung or sentenced to prison time, even if they were innocent but the white person said they were guilty. 

I think this book would be of interest to students because it tells the story through the first person point of view through David who is a ten year old boy.  They can relate to a young boy his age.  It would also be good for them to see that things were not always as they are today.  Things today are still not perfect between different races, but we have made much progress from the time this story happened.  This book can spark a discussion about many social issues, morals, and just how to be a good person. 

I used the post-it note strategy while reading this book and wrote down examples of foreshadowing, events that I thought were important, and things that reminded me of other things while reading.  An event that happens on page 62 had me make a text-to-movie connection.  When the grandma, Ma Rachel, is telling the story of how the white people stole her name, she tells how her mother was whipped until she changed her name from Rachel to Pansy.  This reminded me of the movie Roots where Kunta Kinte is whipped and forced to change his name to Toby.  I don’t think many students who read this book in elementary or middle school would be able to make this connection because they probably won’t watch that movie until they are in high school. 

This book was recommended to me by my school’s SLMS and it was also an ALA Notable Book and an American Bookseller “Pick of the Lists”. 

Big Question:  What would you have done if you were David when Hammer knocks Charlie out?  What about this book relates to how things are in present day society?