Black Storm Comin’ is about a 12-year-old boy of
mixed race, Colton Wescott. It is 1860
and he is travelling with his family along the Pony Express Trail from St.
Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California.
Colton’s Dad has just deserted the wagon train. The family continues on. The baby brother dies and the mother becomes
very ill. They stop in a little town in
present day Nevada on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Colton struggles with the problems of losing
the oxen, paying for the doctor, caring for his sisters, and trying to deliver
freedom papers to his mother’s sister in Sacramento. He decides to work for the Pony Express to
make money and get to Sacramento.
This
book is definitely a good choice for middle school students and it’s a fun read. Colton is the same age as the students
allowing them to connect with the character.
Because his father left, he struggles with taking over as the man of the
family and sometimes he just wants to be a kid.
He has an African-American mother and a white father so issues of race
come up especially since the Civil War is practically upon them (I thought the
book did a superb job with this issue). Since
the book takes place in 1860 there is the added benefit of a little bit of
history and geography. Finally, it deals
with family issues, responsibility, and is an all-around coming of age
story. Since the book does such a fantastic job of dealing with several issues it makes approaching the issues easier. The text is on the longer side but it kept a good pace and wasn't difficult to follow. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book.
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