One Mississippi

Mark Childress
Little Brown & Company (2006)
ISBN 0316012114
Reviewed by Ellen Hogan for Reader Views (7/06)

 "One Mississippi" is the story of Daniel Musgrove, during his junior and senior years of high school. Daniel's father Lee Ray Musgrove worked for Tri-Dex as a district sales manager. The book opens with Lee telling the family that he is being transferred again, this time to Mississippi.  The movers come and pack all their belongings and head out. The family drives down from Indiana and not long before they reach their destination they are stopped by an accident on the interstate. The driver of the moving van was drunk and wrecked the truck. It caught on fire and burned all of the Musgrove's possessions.


School started and Daniel's only friend was Tim Cousins. They were inseparable and talked on the phone for hours. Daniel had a secret crush on Arnita Beecham. He along with many others voted for her for prom queen. She was the first black prom queen in the history of Minor High School. Red Martin was voted prom king, he was a bully that made Daniel and Tim's life miserable.


 This book was very compelling and got you hooked from the beginning. There are very funny parts and very poignant parts to the book. It shows the pains of adolescence and how they shaped the man that Daniel was to become.

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