Reviews for The physiology of nerve cells

The average rating for The physiology of nerve cells based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-10-04 00:00:00 Lisa Weisz This Book Should Have Won a 1998 Newbery Honor! Wow--this is a gripping tale about poverty, racial prejudice and social injustice rampant in the rural South during the Depression. In 20 short chapters author Robinet depicts the inherited evils of the era, wherein sharecropping was merely a legitimized form of Slavery. Ethical question: are we justified to use any means to ensure our physical and economic survival? Why play fair and abide by humanitarian rules, when the enemy is brutally corrupt and ruthlessly embittered? How far must familial honor dictate the suffering of its members? For Shortening Bread Jackson's 12th birthday, he wants to give his large family the gift they most desire: his daddy's freedom from the harsh chain gang, for a crime he did not commit. But there was no justice to be had for sharecropping Blacks who bucked the system in a mangy wide spot in the road called Sleepy Corners. This psychological flyspeck on a shabby map was home to a few rich folks who wielded the power to keep a disenfranchised race enslaved into the 20th century. Running scared and desperate to make an example of those who protested inhumane treatment--those who defied the ancient social system--the sheriff and landowners unite to retain their petty dictatorship. But young Shortening Bread is clever beyond his years and all his older brothers combined. He has a dream and knows it is up to him to realize it for them all. He uses his wits and knowledge of human nature to start a rumor about an FBI agent coming to release his daddy from the chain gang. Can a mere kid defy social convention and actually deliver a white man intent on justice, who will free Rufus Jackson at high noon on Wednesday? Sheriff Clark doesn't take kindly to being made a fool of in his own domain, or being manipulated by Blacks. Plus--if this scheme can be pulled off, will their lives be worth anything afterwards? Can a white boy befriend a black boy, defying generations of strict protocol, in an area policed by the Klan? They may not play together or even shake hands, not say thank you for helping save a life. This riveting tale of interracial cooperation to achieve an underground form of justice will hold the interest of grades 4-10. But all conscientious adults should read this book and never forget our dark past of shame, so that such atrocities do not occur again. Black History revived! (October 3, 2011. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)

Review # 2 was written on 2009-12-02 00:00:00 James Wampler A lovely connection of the stories of those who fled 🇮🇪 with the Creole history in New Orleans, sharing music & a new start for children of humble origins.