Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till #29
Chris Crowe

Crowe, Chris. (2003). Getting away with murder: The true story of the Emmett Till
case. New York: Dial.

Awards: Jane Addams Honor Book

Grade Level: 4-8

Standards: Social Studies: Discover how democratic values were established and have been exemplified by people, events, and symbols. (History, Civil Rights)

Author Credibility: Crowe interviewed Till’s mother and also did extensive research on this topic.

Summary: This is a great book about the story of Emmett Till. Emmett Till, a young naive boy from Chicago, visits his family in Mississippi and never returns home again. This book chronologically discusses the events that happened before and after his death including the court case.

Illustrations: Archival black and white photographs that will put you right there on the scene. The most memorable one is the photograph of Emmett’s mother when the casket arrived in Chicago. I could really feel her pain as I examined that photograph.

Access Features: The front cover contains a photograph of Till with lines drawn to the title and the house where he stayed in Mississippi. The book has a table of contents with titles for all the chapters. Text is written under the photographs.

Response: When I was reading this book, I made a connection with another reading class where the group did a report on Emmett Till. When Emmett’s mother had to identify his body. She said that was the hardest thing that she had to do because his body was so badly mutilated. That was the hardest part for me to read. I cried during the whole book.

Use. This book would be appropriate for grades 4-8, but I would use it in collaboration with teaching students about the struggles that blacks had to endure just because of their race.

Related Text:

Mississippi Burning Trial by Bill Scheppler