A Yellow Watermelon

This is a great story and a really cool look back at the old south.

The story was told so well that I never put the book down until I finished the whole thing. Great read.

This was an excellent read with very accurate descriptions of life in that era. Easy to follow the plot of the story. I highly recommend this book.

Boring and racist it stupid and such little details at parts that need more details and don't get me started about the end it was so bad

Upon their first meeting, Ted Dillon and Jake Johnson developed a bond based on mutual respect and trust that grew stronger over time, fueled largely by their generous hearts and adventurous spirits. Yet life in rural Alabama during the 1940s placed some big obstacles in their way that forced them to hide their friendship and stymied their efforts to help each other. Ted, a twelve-year old white boy, had just started to awaken to the disturbing realities of racial discrimination and segregation, but he refused to abide by the strict set of norms that others around him followed. Jake, an older black man who had escaped from prison and found a job with barely-tolerable working conditions in Ted's small town, knew the difficulties of living in the segregated South only too well. Along the way, Ted befriended a black boy his age named Poudlum. Backed by the threat of a cotton-picker boycott, they integrated the town's cotton field and also stood up to the bigotry of the town's most powerful man. Together, these three unlikely friends found themselves enmeshed in an adventure of intrigue and danger that seemed to grow bigger by the day. With its colorful prose, exciting plot, and rich historical context, this novel successfully manages to embed an important reminder of the deplorable treatment of blacks in the deep South before the Civil Rights era into an entertaining, action-packed story. Thoroughly ingrained into the plotline are some important economic principles related to poverty, decent wages, and property rights. This engrossing book is sure to please even the most discerning of readers.

"A Yellow Watermelon" reminds me of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Huckleberry Finn" in that it is a great read with engaging, memorable characters and wonderful boyhood stories that also tell volumes about the small town South of the 1940's. Read it for fun, but soak up the history. This is a story that will engage young readers as well as elders who lived the 1940's era of this yarn. A wonderful cast of characters struggle with the issues such as race and economics of Post WWII South Alabama. Ted Dillon's gradual discovery of the racial double standards of South Alabama during the 1940's and his decisions to deal with it is powerful. "A Yellow Watermelon" is a most enjoyable and a rewarding read.

I arose this morning at 3:20 a.m. to learn the conclusion of the daring adventures of the two young boys. Tom Sawyer and Jim--oops! I meant to say Ted and Poodlum! This book is the perfect, clean, frolicsome summer read with an underlying strong moral theme. It's a book about friendship, curiosity, risk taking, and the cleverness of a child's imagination. I personally know childhood in this rural area during the late 40's, and Ted's talent for recall brought the entire era back to me as if it were a birthright. The author planted the seeds of necessary future change through focusing on innocence and predjudices accepted by these courageous friends of different skin color. Through puzzling encounters with 'differentness', young Ted calmly explains to Poodlum, over chocolate ice cream cones, it will fall to them to change the system when they grow up because it's the right thing to do.

Well, what most people do not know about this book, is that, it comes from real life experience in a real place. this is acctually a true story. It is beautifully written. I can really see old time coffeville. It is a story that just comes to life in my mind. i enjoyed it so much! Thank you for a trip into history.