Books in the Middle: Reading for Middle School


Simeon’s Story – A Review by 8th Grader Paul B. December 15, 2016

Filed under: Nonfiction Titles — bhomel @ 1:35 pm

In the summer of 1955, Emmett Till gets on a train and leaves Chicago and goes to visit his relatives in Mississippi for the summer. As he arrives in Mississippi, Emmett, Simeon, and the rest of their cousins are having fun and enjoying Emmett’s visit until one morning when they all go to a little market called Bryant’s Grocery. Emmett wanted to get some bubble gum and soda because it was so hot. So he went into the store by himself. Simeon and the other cousins were worried because there was a white lady named Carolyn Bryant who was working as the cashier for the market. Simeon went into the store and in the book he stated that Emmett did not have any physical contact with Mrs. Bryant nor talked to her. After Emmett and Simeon left the store, they were standing in the front of the store goofing around until Mrs. Bryant walked out a few minutes behind them. She headed to her car and then Emmett whistled at Mrs. Bryant. The cousins knew Emmett was in danger so they all fled back home before something happened.

Two days later. in the middle of the night when the family came back from downtown Mississippi, two white men knocked on the door and Emmett’s uncle answered the door. It was Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. They ordered to have Emmett Till come with them so they abducted Emmett. The family was so scared for Emmett and did not know what to do but call thImage result for simeon's storye cops. A week later, a detective came to the home where Emmett got abducted and told the uncle of Emmett Till that they found his body in the Tallahatchie River. The family saw the body. They said that they could not recognize the body because he was so beaten, they couldn’t tell it was him. They were mourning for days and had a funeral back in Chicago. Then the trial started.

In my opinion, I think Simeon’s Story  by Simeon Wright was very interesting and hard to put down. I learned a lot about how Emmett Till got abducted and murdered. And I learned more about how Emmett’s personality was before the abduction.


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