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- Coosa is a
sweet, family story based on the family history of Jack Prather. It is
an excellent timeline of the Alabama Native American history in Coosa
County from 1775. Each generation has adventures mixed with family love.
There is Native American mysticism, the tender humor of first love,
youngsters antics, and the responsibilities adults accept to protect
their family.
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- For Alabama
history, Coosa explores the relationship of tribes and the laws
of the community. In the early 1800's as Native Americans are forced to
move to land across the Mississippi River, this family is allowed to
remain due to a law protecting those who held office in community
service. The family faces the pre-Civil War tensions, the depression of
reconstruction, and the change from rural to urban life. Jack Prather
adds his anecdotes of growing up, military service, and family.
The story of Black Cloud stands out as he
proves to be a forward thinker. Together with the Henry Pounds family, the first white settlers in Coosa County, Black Cloud builds a large cotton
plantation, paying the freed black workers years before the Civil War. Black
Cloud traveled the region promoting anti-slavery and ran for the US
Congress, till a vision foretold the divided Nation and outcome.
- The novel works
well for middle grade readers, but I would like to see it used for
parent/child or grandparent/child readings, as a way to open discussion
about their own family history.
Jack Prather is a retired engineer, who
spent over forty years writing magazine articles and reports for companies
such as The Texas Oil Company and Kimberly Clark Corporation. Now, he lives
in Mobile, Alabama, and writes memoirs and novels.
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Joyce Dixon
- Southern Scribe
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2004, Southern Scribe Reviews, All Rights Reserved |
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