The Rock and the River

The Rock and the River is a novel about the civil rights movement following fictional character Sam Childs. He is the son of a Civil Rights Activist named Roland Childs who is actively involved with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sam is thirteen years old and still figuring out who he is. His older brother, and best friend, Stick, starts to drift away, then Sam finds something that will change the rest f his life. This book is a work of historical fiction. Some events (like the Civil Rights Movement) are real, but the characters aren't.

The book received starred reviews from Booklist,^[1] as well as a positive review from Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books^[2] and Kirkus.^[3]

In their review, Kirkus wrote, "Magoon is unflinching in her depictions of police brutality and racism" and "offers readers a perspective that is rarely explored, showing that racial prejudices were not confined to the South and that the Civil Rights Movement was a truly national struggle."

The audiobook, narrated by Dion Graham, received a positive review from Booklist.^[4]