Mr Touchdown

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The Review

The narrative opens on a dusty Tennessee day in 1965. That is the day when Eddie Russel's preacher father drops a bomb shell. Eddie and his sister Lakeesha will be part of a small group of black high schoolers to integrate the local all white high school. For football star Eddie this is not good news. 'You all want us to go to an all-white school, we'll go,' he said. 'But don't expect us to be heroes.' From that beginning Eddie, Lakeesha and their friends, Lethe Jefferson and Rochelle Perry, are set upon a roller coaster ride filled with racial slurs, angry glares, and just plain animosity. From the coach who doesn't want a black player, to an assumption the students must be behind and need make up work to those who ignored, outright animosity and grudging approval the four find themselves fighting an uphill battle for acceptance. As Eddie runs laps to allow the white boys times to shower after football practice to teacher's eyes directed toward by not quite meeting his to stares and gasps the first days of school are not easy ones. Cafeteria workers who were careful to not touch black hands, grudging respect building in unsuspected teachers and fellow students, being ignored, sitting out football game after football game, always feeling afraid, and decisions to be made.

Mr. Touchdown offers the reader a peek into the turmoil facing many students, black and white, during 1965 as they face changes in their lives when the law demanded that the schools be desegregated. Athletes, straight a students none of that matters, everyone knows -they- are dirty, they cheat and they can't compete with white students. Everyone knows -they- are bigots, hate everyone not white and have no compassion. Facing anger and outright hatred of many of the teaching staff as well as fellow students is something few of us can honestly say we have experienced. Integration forced black and white to look within themselves and find the commonality of humankind.... It was not always an easy struggle. Writer Phillips has well portrayed the struggle for black and white alike as they come to understanding of themselves, social mores of the time and change in society.

Written mainly in third person writer Phillips draws the reader into the tale from the outset and holds reader interest tight as we follow the ups and downs of four young people who are facing more stress than most of us face in our lifetime.

Mr. Touchdown is an outstanding read filled with resonating, illustrative language used to forge an animated teen world filled with shop class and unfair gym teachers, rattle of band, pep rallies and pompoms. Gusty dialogue, fast-moving story line, and frankly astonishing twists and turns rooted in the revolutionary social change that were part and parcel of our country during the 1960s are presented in readable fashion sure to draw middle school and high school reader attention. Writer Phillips has managed to balance the vivid portrayal of community undercurrent, cross generation distress, personal struggle, teen angst, and violence against the beginnings of understanding and acceptance by adults and fellow students. From outright anger to false acceptance to real understanding, teachers are portrayed in believable manner.

Racism, segregation, separate and never equal, are presented in gritty words and gritty manner. The writer has crafted a work of fiction based in historical fact. Eddie is a character with whom reader's can identify for both his struggle as a black youth, and that of simply being a teen in an adult world.

Excellent choice for the classroom, the pleasure reading shelf, homeschool library and middle to high school curriculum.

Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend.

Powerful, thought provoking read ... Recommended ... 4 stars

Genre: Young Adult

Author: Lyda Phillips

http://lydaphillips.com

Line/Publisher iUniverse 2021 Pine Lake road STE 100, lincoln, NE 68512 http://www.iuniverse.com

Available: Amazon, Barnes and Noble $13.95 Paperback, Hardback, eBook
ISBN: 0595672884

Reviewed by: Molly Martin
http://www.angelfire.com/ok4/mollymartin
http://www.AuthorsDen.com/mjhollingshead
20+ years California classroom teacher

Teacher, writer, reviewer, parent, Scouter

Butta and the Tower of Bling - African American Mainstream Literature

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Butta and the Tower of Bling is a fast-paced adventure into the world of urban fiction. Corey Burkes in this his debut novel has produced mainstream fiction that will make the reader sit up and take notice of the characters rich with dialogues who speak and act like people we know. The novel is a brilliant depiction of a cross-section of American Culture with which we can all identify. Shady characters, evil antagonists, gutsy protagonists, and a host of supporting characters all spring to life from the pages of Butta' and the Tower of Bling.

Burkes' unique writing style is both edgy and irreverent. His characters speak and act like everyday people you meet on the street. They remind you of the people who make up the heart and soul of any American city; some you know, some you don't know, and some you wish you had never met. As Butta' herself claims, "I speak so I can be understood." Fully fleshed out and conveying attitude, these are the kind of fictional characters that are so believable you want to keep on reading.

The story line is based on a deep seated grudge held by Butta. Hung alongside her family as a small child by a nasty white supremacist, Butta spends her entire life devoted to taking down this neo-Nazi who has become the master of a diamond making invention that her father created. Butta a genius at cat burglaring hires an entourage of equally interesting support to help her pull of her biggest heist yet, stealing back the invention her father created!

The plot has multiple layers that demonstrate a maturity of writing skills seldom seen so early in an author's career. The consistent build up to the climax keeps the reader eager to turn to the next page. The careful blend of dialogue and background is so balanced and blended that the reader becomes absorbed in the story. From the botched lynching and thieving white supremacist to the harrowing escape in the final moments of the book, the pace is never dull, the story enthralling, and the rush to the finish will have the reader up all night racing to the finish. The protagonist's father says it best, " Now I know why we call you Butta....you so smooth."

Butta' and the Tower of Bling

Corey A. Burkes

Publisher: Skyelightbooks.com

ISBN: 978-0-979-6352

Publisher year: 2007

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African American Authors - The Civil Rights Movement

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During the American Civil Rights movement, authors such as Richard Wright, as well as Gwendolyn Brooks, wrote about problems with racial segregation as well as Black Nationalism.

As more and more Black writers produced best sellers and award winners, the African-American book became mainstream by the 1970s. Around this time, scholars began to accept African-American writers and African-American novels as a legitimate part of the literary canon.

Toni Morrison became an editor for Random House in the 1960s and 1970s, and helped promote Black literature and writers by editing books by authors such as Toni Cade Bambara and Gayl Jones. Later, she became an important 20th century African-American writer in her own right. She wrote her first novel, The Bluest Eye, in 1970. "Beloved", which took the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988, is her most famous novel. This novel, which won a prize, is about a slave who decided to kill her baby daughter to keep her from being a slave. Song of Solomon, which delves into the themes of materialism and brotherhood, is another key novel. The first African-American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature was Morrison.

A famous essay returning Zora Neale Hurston, with her classic novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" to the literary world's attention by Alice Walker, the 1970's novelist and poet. Alice Walker brought home the Pulitzer Prize for The Color Purple, as well as the American-book Award. The main character in the Color Purple, Celie, tells the tale of a girl who has no choice in the marriage of an abusive husband after being raised by a step dad who used to abuse her sexually. Later on, this novel was made into a movie by Steven Spielberg.

Genre fiction is another crossover for literature that is African American. Chester Himes is among the most famous in his genre; his series of pulp novels about New York detectives "Coffin" Ed Johnson and "Gravedigger" Jones were well-known during the 1950s and '60s. The influence of Himes' earlier novels can be seen in the crime fiction of Hugh Holton and Walter Mosley.

A great climax was when Edward P. Jones won The 2004 Pulitzer Prize for "Fiction for the Known World", a novel about a slaveholder that was black in the antebellum.

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