involving a rope and a history lesson

"Between 1915 and 1970, more than 6 million African-Americans moved out of the South to cities across the Northeast, Midwest and West.

This relocation — called the Great Migration — resulted in massive demographic shifts across the United States. Between 1910 and 1930, cities such as New York, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland saw their African-American populations grow by about 40 percent, and the number of African-Americans employed in industrial jobs nearly doubled." --NPR, "Great Migration: The African-American Exodus North"

It is this very migration we experience in Jacqueline Woodson's, This is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration; told subtly from the point of view of a piece of rope and its evolution of roles within a family: the tie that keeps the family's possession on top of their car when they move, a jump rope, etc.

As always, Woodson has offered a thoughtful and unique insight into a part of U.S., and more specifically African American history. This story would be a great tool for opening a discussion about this event/time period in our history.

I loved it and I'm not going to lie...I had tears in my eyes by the end of the story.

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