A compelling dual-narrated tale from Jennifer Latham that questions how far we’ve come with race relations.Some bodies won’t stay buried.Some stories need to be told. When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family’s property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the present and the past. Nearly one … of painful discoveries about the present and the past.
Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what’s right the night Tulsa burns.
Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham’s lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important questions about the complex state of US race relations–both yesterday and today.more
Amazing I loved this book so much. Jennifer Latham did amazing job. I never know anything like this happened at all. I read so much about what happened in Tulsa in 1921 and it just saddens me. While reading this book to get got a better understanding of what happened. And that racism still is going on now in 2018. I loved and enjoyed Rowan and William stories. At first I was like William is a you know what but he changed his heart and started caring about people. This book is set in 1921 in Tulsa Oklahoma. I felt like I was there. This book should be talked about more it’s about history that needs to be heard and talked about. You will not be disappointed if you pick up this book.
It was a haunting read as the basis of the story surrounds a racial firestorm from 1921. This was the worst race riot in our nation. This was in a way a page-turner as the story is told from two different perspectives. One is told by Rowan, a young girl in current time while the other chapters are told by William, a young boy 100 years prior. The two stories blend with a common dead body where the story blends together. I though I had it all figured out until the end.
On January 12, 2018, I had the opportunity to hear author Jennifer Latham speak about her novel, Dreamland Burning. It’s a young adult, historical fiction novel set around both the present day and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
I remember being enthralled with her, with her voice and her tone and her empathy. The research she did for this project is absolutely incredible!
Looking back at my agenda from the meeting at which she spoke, I wrote “Greenwood Cultural Center” as a mental note to check it out, to go visit and tour, to learn more.
I never did. Life happened, my meeting agenda was efficiently hole-punched and placed in my organized binder. I filed away the new bits of knowledge, but in the recess of my mind for another day.
Strike one.
I also purchased Dreamland Burning, a beautiful hard cover, first edition, signed by the author, and I immediately started reading it. It is very engaging, told from the perspective of Rowan, and bi-racial teen in today’s Tulsa, and William, a white teen in 1921 Tulsa. Both – as well as the secondary characters – are very real. They are imperfect, they are honest, and they experience personal growth as the story evolves.
It is also difficult to read because while wonderfully written, its subject is deplorable and hard to stomach.
About 80 pages in, I set it aside for something lighter and happier.
I’d come back to Dreamland another day.
Strike two.
Twice now I had opportunity to read about, learn about, and visualize what life was – and is – like for African Americans, for black friends and family whom I love dearly. Twice I failed.
I don’t want there to be a third strike; I don’t want to be ignorant.
This past weekend I started back at the beginning of Dreamland Burning. Again, I was entranced by Jennifer Latham’s ability to speak through Rowan, William, Joseph, and Ruby. Even the disgustingly evil characters like Cletus Hayes and Vernon Fish serve their purpose and perform their roles immaculately. Although the characters are fictional, the history is unfortunately very accurate. It’s a gripping, educational, important book.
This time, I read every page, some more than once.
I hope you will do the same.
Here are my 3 pieces to share:
I thought about that for a while. Dr. Woods made me want to be…more. To stretch out and aim for something better than good enough. (Rowan, page 164)
Everyone needs mentors, people to show them and push them to be more. I pray I can be that influence on others some day!
After we hung up, I was alone in the quiet and the dark again, wishing I knew if Ruby was safe.
Until the shot sounded.
Just one, far off
Then another.
Two after that.
Then so many that I couldn’t count. And I stood there with my gun in my hands, frozen with fear and numbed by a sudden, overwhelming awareness of just how fragile the life I knew really was.
(William, page 243)
Life is fragile. Anything of immense value and worth is by definition fragile. Life is fragile, and it can change in a heartbeat. We must love accordingly, without conditions. Without biases, without judgement, and without hate. I didn’t grow up an overly religious person, but as an adult, my faith has become very important to me. The more I have read and studied the Bible, I see that we must love as Jesus loved, sinners and saints, brothers and sisters, from all backgrounds, and of all colors…red and yellow, black and white; they’re all precious in His sight.
Like Rowan’s mom, I don’t believe that history holds easy answers or simple lessons, because those answers and lessons are stretched out over thousands – millions – of untold stories. But I do believe that if we seek those stories out, and if we listen to them and talk to each other with open hearts and minds, we can start to heal. I believe that good people working together can create meaningful change. And I believe that the Josephs, Rubys, and Wills of this world are stronger than the Vernon Fishes.
(Jennifer Latham, Author’s Note, page 370-371)
So do I, Jen; so do I!
With love and hugs,
Ashli
Great historical fiction look at the Tulsa Race Riot, written and published before the events of 2020.
Dreamland Burning gives insight into the horrific Greenwood Massacre of 1921 that seems to be left out of all history books. This book was a wonderfully woven story of tragedy and change. We see characters who have a complete arc. You will lose yourself in their journey. As someone who has been fascinated by the Greenwood Massacre, I really enjoyed this take on what happened and the realistic rendering of what it must have been like during that time.