Same Kind of Different as Me

Title: SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME
Author: Ron Hall and Denver Moore
As told to Lynn Vincent
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
2008

Genre: Inspirational/contemporary


The 1950’s wasn’t exactly the easiest time for a poor black child. Denver worked on a plantation, same as his grandmother did, lived in a shack, same as his grandmother did, and didn’t even own the overalls he wore, and like his grandmother, didn’t get paid a penny for the work he did, even though slavery was considered over. After hearing stories about how a man, any man, could get rich, living anywhere else, Denver finally hopped a train and headed to Dallas, thankful to get away from the black-hating people of his home state who left him half blind and half dead for stopping to change a tire for a white woman. But not knowing how to read and write, career opportunities weren’t exactly knocking on Denver’s door in the big Texas city, and instead he found himself homeless.

Ron made his living selling art. Commissions made on high valued art that rich people collected then sold for twice its original value kept his pockets well padded. But it wasn’t always that way. Ron’s grandfather owned a plantation in the south, and every summer he’d hire all the blacks and whites that wanted to work, Ron included, and they’d work in the cotton fields. But that was as far as the fairness went. Blacks were fed cold cuts on the ground behind the service station (billed for the food they ate) and whites where treated to a free hot meal at the big house. Ron didn’t quite see the fairness in this but it’s the way it was…

Ron’s wife, Miss Debbie, is the first white woman, Denver ever really talked to. And Miss Debbie made a profound difference in his life, and any others who were touched by this remarkable woman.

SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME is written in first person from both Denver’s and Ron’s points of view. The story is engaging, keeping the reader engaged, even while they wanted to cry at the cruelty and the unfairness at the situations. Born long after these events took place, and as a native northerner, not southern, I can hardly relate to the facts as they are described in this story. My heart just broke as I read above Denver’s life, and even Ron’s youth.

Readers will feel for Ron and Denver both as they travel through their youth to their young adult days to the events that will eventually bring them together and bind them in ways they would have never imaged. This is not a book to be missed. It is truly a treasure that will stay with you for a long time after you close the book. Discussion questions are included at the end.