Rating: 
Summary: :::Yawn:::
Review: We read this book in school - Freshman Accel English. I can't say I'd ever recommend this to anyone, unless they were researching boring, straightforwward books lacking any eloquence or flavor. Moody tells her story without any emotion, which I guess is good because it isn't sappy, but it still manages to be asinine. If this book is being read to see the black viewpoint in the South, try something like Stuck Rubber Baby...Anything else really. Maybe I'm biased because I just didn't like how her Mom complained about being poor but squeezed out the kids at a rate of 1.5 per chapter. Sorry if this offends anyone, I know it isn't Moody's fault that her life was really boring, but I just wish stupid and poor people wouldn't have 10 kids when they can't afford to feed 2.
Rating: 
Summary: An amazing, heart wrenching book
Review: This book was absoluteley amazing. It made you feel like you were right there going through the horrors with the author. It makes you realize the pain that african american people had to go through and the strength that they had to have just to survive. I would read this book again for it makes you have a totally different perspective on life.
Rating:
Summary: Really makes you think
Review: This book is great. I was drawn into Moody's life story immediately. It brought forth so many emotions, I shed tears and shared smiles with her every step of the way. It made me think of eveything we have today and how far we've come, along with how far we have to go.
Rating: 
Summary: In Anne Moody's Coming of Age
Review: Without flinching she allows us into her early life as the
child of a sharecropper and her tenacious survival at the hands
of Family.To find out when you grow up,how children suffered
on a meager diet and had no toys,made me realize how sheltered
we were if we had white skin, in the not so long ago days of
segregation. The fact that Miss Moody so eloquently can describe
her survival is a miracle.She describes her teenage angst with a
mother who didn't want to understand her. Much more was at stake
with her rebellion concerning her very life.
I cheered her on with the "Woolworth" sit in.She is a heroine
for all young girls with a mission.
I could go on forever about this book but I say "Let us all
be Equal." We are all members of God's human race.
Thank you Ms. Moody for reminding us.
An America that was reluctant is now constantly ready to
change, due to the bravery of people like you. I gave this a 4 star because the counter culture talk took away from the moving book it has become.
Rating:
Summary: I Was Emotionally Moved
Review: It was August 25th, 2001. I was in the Young Adult section of Borders looking for a few last-days-of-summer break-reads. Then, as I'm looking, my mother picks up Coming Of Age in Mississippi. At first I look at the book and read the captions and descriptions of the book. Then I think to myself, "Do I really want to read another book about segregation, racism and lynching. I mean like, We studied a lot of this in history this past school year. Do I really want to read more of it?" Now don't get me wrong, not every book that is a memoir of those times is going to be just like the other. So instead of judging the book by it's cover, category/genre and description, I decided to go for it and give it a try. I really liked reading this book. It took me a while because I couldn't always read it when I wanted to, but I finished it. There were so many points in the book where I felt proud of Anne/Essie. She did so many things for the benfit of others. She protested maggot-infested food, she held rallies at her church to motivate people to "fight" for their rights and so much more. In this novel, I also read about the more personal struggles she went through such as denouncing her religion because she was perplexed on why God would let such terrible things happen to a race of people, problems at home, her stepfather tearing apart the family, her leaving home in search of more opportunity and much more that you will just have to read the book in order to find out. Now you're probably wondering, "If you like this book so much, then why are you only giving it 4 stars?" Well, my reason for that is because if there is one thing that I could change about this book, it would be the excessive cursing. Near the middle of the book, I just needed a break from it. But other than that, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Marvelous
Review: Having to read this for a college History class, I just knew it would be boring and hard to read but boy, was I pleasantly surprised! Anne Moody gives us an intimate look into her life growing up during a time when racial violence against blacks was at an all-time high. But she was able to rise above the hardships around her and become a determined civil rights activist--determined to see a change for her people and in America. I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Review of The Coming Of Age In Mississippi
Review: In the well-written autobiography, Coming Of Age In Mississippi, Anne Moody describes what it is like to grow up black in Mississippi. Her experiences growing up formulated her outlook on life. Born in 1940 Anne grew up during the thick of the Civil Rights movement. She had to deal with prejudice from blacks and whites alike. Throughout the book Anne struggles with her feelings on what she believes in. Along with that, she must deal with the hardships of being poor and the outcome of her actions. As a result of her struggles a hero is born. Anne uses her heroism and strong will to make things happen. The book is well written and conveys the life experiences and feelings of a black girl as seen through the author's own reflections.
The book Coming Of Age In Mississippi is separated into 4 different sections that each tell about a different time in Anne's life. The first section of the book deals with Anne's childhood. When Anne was 4 her father left her mother and younger sister. After her father left her mother had another baby, by a solider named Raymond, whom she eventually married. When Anne was 9 years old she got her first job sweeping an old white lady's porch and sidewalks. She got paid 75 cents and 2 gallons of milk a week. Anne stopped working for the lady when the lady had her cleaning the whole house (p.44). Throughout her childhood Anne learned just what she must do to survive in Mississippi. Her experiences as a child set the guidelines for the rest of her life. It wasn't until Anne started high school that she started hating the prejudice Negroes received. "I was 15 years old when I began to hate people... I hated all the whites who were responsible for the countless murders... But I also hated Negroes. I hated them for not standing up and doing something about the murders." (p. 129) It was because of this feeling that Anne started to question the way she was treated. She started pushing away from her comfort zone and searching for what she believed was right. During her senior year of high school Anne left her mothers house for good and went to live with her father. With this action she started to sever the ties that bound her to her family and the old way of life. In college Anne put her newfound independence to use. She started a boycott against the cafeteria food because it was unsanitary. "We don't eat until he, (President Buck), gets rid of Miss Harris, (the cook), and that leak is fixed." (p. 235) This was said by Anne in an attempt to rile up her fellow students. Throughout college Anne started doing more things to help Negroes win equal rights. For example she worked on and off with organizations such as the SNCC and the NAACP that promoted equal rights for blacks. Towards the end of her college education Anne jumped feet first into "the movement". While working in the movement Anne experienced horrors she had only heard about back home. She dealt with prejudice and threats in all shapes and forms from all different people. One of the first encounters of prejudice she had while working in the movement happened during her first sit-in. "The white students, (in the store), started chanting all kinds of anti-Negro slogans... The rest of the seats except the three we were occupying had been roped off to prevent others from sitting down. A couple of the boys took one end of the rope and made it into a hangman's noose. Several attempts were made to put it around our necks." (p. 265) Despite many experiences worse than the sit-in Anne continued to push for what she believed was right. Through her work she gave herself and the other people around her a reason to live. Anne finally figured out that there was no special secret to being happy and rich. It comes from what you do with your life. This realization completed her transformation from girl to heroine.
Throughout the book Anne Moody tells her story in such a way that it captivates the reader. The book is not just an autobiography but a true story of a young heroine. The qualities of a heroine are not as noticeable in the beginning of the book. As Anne's life progresses the reader sees those qualities start to grow and flourish. Through the development of Anne's faults and virtues the reader is drawn into the fight against racial discrimination. Throughout the book you are fighting for what Anne believes in. You are so drawn into her actions that you flinch when someone is treated unfairly and cheer when an action is just. Moreover the book grabs your interest and holds onto it until the very last sentence.
During Anne's life she dealt with hardships unimaginable to most people. Due to her experiences she gained the qualities of a heroine. Using her memories Anne Moody lets the reader jump into the shoes of a young black girl growing up in Mississippi. While reading this book the reader gets to feel what Anne felt growing up. The way the book is written makes the reader want to go out and help people who are in the same predicament as Anne.
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Summary: Searing, Honest Portrait of the Civil Rights Movement
Review: This is an excellent autobiography, written by a committed black civil rights worker from a poor, Mississippi family. It is unique in that it shows what the movement was like not for its famous leaders, but for the those unknown, rank-and-file activists who regularly risked their lives to achieve social change. The book reveals what deep-south living conditions were like both before and during the civil rights movement, and what the activists faced in terms of prejudice at home, indifference or hostility from the federal government, and failed expectations about economic change. This book should be read by every college or advanced high school student studying American history.
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Summary: An Aged Mississippian
Review: This book is very moving and touching. Anne Moody's autobiography, "Coming of Age in Mississippi" is a wonderful book that tells the story of Anne's struggles growing up poor and black in the rural south. The author captures the reader's attention in the first few paragraphs using some slang dialect. We had vivid pictures in our minds of what was happening in the story through all of the use of imagery. There is a vivid image of a "rotten wood two room shack" as you read the pages. This book is well written and easy to read. It also helps one realize how many small steps it takes for ones dreams of a wonderful future to come true. We would love to meet Anne Moody, and we are thanking her for enabling us to get a glimpse of her life.
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Summary: Emotional Truth
Review: This book is an extremely well written book full of emotion and truth. This book gives a disturbing, but true account of growing up in a racist southern town. Although oppressed, Anne Moody brilliantly displays her pride, courage, and determination to overcome the obsticles that she was raised in. This familiar part of our nations history is seen through the perspective of an innocent girl living our this horror, therefore giving today's society an intricate look into the racism and oppression of the past. Valerie and Alison
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