Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground by T.R. Simon

I don't usually like to read second books in a series before I read the first book, but I made an exception for Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground, and I'm glad I did. I was immediately pulled into the mystery that the two main characters find themselves involved in, but this book turned out to be so much more than just a mere puzzle.

When Zora Neale Hurston was young, she lived with her family in a town called Eatonville, Florida, the first all black community in the United States. The story begins there one night in 1903 when Zora and her best friend Carrie Brown, both 12, discover two loose horses in the Hurston yard. Recognizing the horses as belonging to Mr. Polk, a mute neighbor, the two girls sneak out and head for his place to see what happened. There, they find Mr. Polk injured and a fire in his cabin. But Zora and Carrie aren't the only ones who noticed something happening, so did Old Lady Bronson, the town's conjure woman, who took charge of Mr. Polk's injuries, and to the absolute surprise of both girls, spoke to him in a strange language and heard him answer. When Zora presses Old Lady Bronson for answers about what she and Carrie just witnessed, the conjure lady makes a deal with her: if she keeps quiet about the night's events, she will tell Zora "a story worth hearing."

The story shifts back to 1855 and a young black girl named Lucia begins narrating her story. Leaving her Caribbean island home of Hispaniola with Prisca and her father Master Frederic, her white owners, Lucia finds herself living enslaved on a plantation in Florida named Westin. Up until moving to Florida, Lucia had been treated well by Master Frederic and was best friends with Prisca. But, three years later, Master Frederic has died and Prisca's stepmother decides to sell Lucia, claiming the plantation needed money and it was part of her marriage contract with Master Frederic that Lucia would be sold.

The story continues to alternate between Zora and Carrie's present and Lucia's life of slavery. Slowly, however, the two stories come together in a surprising way as Zora and Carrie learn the truth about Mr. Polk, Old Lady Bronson and their own connections to slavery and Eatonville's past, and that "history wasn't just something you read in a book. It was everything your life stood on. We who thought we were free from the past were still living it out." (pg 174)

Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground is a gripping coming of age work of historical fiction and Simon has done a stellar job bringing the characters, the time periods, and the setting to life. Carries is an intelligent, though somewhat cautious girl, while Zora is an impulsive, curious, and intelligent girl, and Old Lady Bronson knows when she finds the two girls at Mr. Polk's place that Zora won't be happy until she is told the truth about the night's events.

Simon goes easily from time period to time period without jarring the reader, ending each section with enough to really keep the reader going simply by igniting their curiosity to discover, like Zora, what is going on. 

And Eatonville? Setting in a novel is always important, but here so much of the action in this novel centers around the town of Eatonville, founded in 1887, that it actually becomes another important character as Lucia's 1855 story begins to merge with the event's of 1903 Eatonville. I can't say more or I'll give too much away and you definitely want to find out the answers on your own. 
 
Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground may be difficult for some readers. Simon tackles the brutality of slavery head on and without apology. This may make some white readers uncomfortable, but if you can get past you discomfort, there is a lot of painful truth to be found here. Prisca's stepmother and her children are classic examples of white attitudes about black people, but what is made clear is that this attitude persisted into the 20th century and, I am sad to say, even into 21th century. This is certainly a thought-provoking element in the novel and I hope people do think about it.

Do read Simon's short biography of Zora Neale Hurston at the back of the novel, and check out the timeline of her life. There is also an annotated bibliography of Hurston's work, and a list of children's books that were adapted from the folktales she collected.

You can find more information about the history of Eatonville, Florida HERE 

You can find a useful discussion guide prepared by the publisher, Candlewick Press, HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

And yes, I can't wait to read the first book, Zora & Me

Unbound: A Novel in Verse by Ann E. Burg

Grace has been living in a slave cabin on a tobacco plantation all her life, but as soon as she turns 9, she is told she will be sent to live in the big house and serve the Master and Missus instead of remaining with her family and helping out in the garden and taking care of her two younger brothers. It also means not seeing her mother, her mother's husband, Uncle Jim, or her elderly Aunt Sara anymore. And all because her eyes are blue and her skin color is so light she could pass for white.

And even though she is told all the time to keep her eyes down and her mouth shut, Grace can't help but feel the injustice of the treatment of slaves by these cruel, selfish owners. Now working in the kitchen with another slave named Aunt Tempie, she begins to resent seeing her so compliant and intimated by the Master and Missus.  But it is also Aunt Tempie who eventually lets Grace sneak away to see her family on Saturday nights, at great risk to both of them.

When their other light-skinned slave, Jordon, runs away, it falls to Grace to now work in the kitchen and to serve the family at meals. Seeing more of the Missus only makes Grace's resentment of her increase, until finally she mutters something that is overheard. The Missus decides to teach Grace a lesson. Grace overhears her telling her husband that putting her mother and younger brothers on the auction block might finally teach Grace who she is and where she belongs.

Afraid that this is a real threat, Grace warns her family that it is time to run - immediately. It doesn't take long to get ready and leave in the dead of night. Nor does it take long before they hear the sound of a galloping horse, ridden by a paddyroller. After narrowly escaping this slave patroller, thanks to a trap made by the elusive OleGeorgeCooper, a severally scarred (from burns, beatings, and brandings by his master) runaway slave. OleGeorgeCooper has been living in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia for years now and knows it well. He quickly leads Grace and her family to the cave that he has been living in, a safe place for them to rest, and plan their next move.

Throughout their stay with OleGeorgeCooper, Grace discovers that there is much going on among slaves that she has no idea about, and has never even noticed, and that people aren't necessarily who they seem to be, including Aunt Tempie, even though she watches everything so carefully.

Unbound is written entirely in Grace's voice, in lyrical verse that sounds very much like dialect and really captures the dichotomy slaves lived with everyday. On the one hand, Ann Burg shows how slaves were subject to the cruel whimsey of their owners as a way of keeping them under control and subservient, on the other hand, there is their "home' life away from the house and fields, where family members were the most important, most cherished part of their lives in the antebellum south. There is no question then that it is time to run, when it is decided to sell Grace's mother and brothers to teach her a lesson - Burg makes very clear this is not an empty threat.

Grace is a headstrong girl who is absolutely aware of the unfairness of slavery, and sometimes has a hard time keeping things to herself. And though she is afraid of the gators and snakes in the Big Swamp they must walk through to find freedom, she is more afraid of the power the master and missus have over their lives.

Although Grace's story is fiction, Burg write in her Author's Note that it is based on experiences of real people. I had expected Unbound to be a story about the Underground Railway, so I was surprised when the family found themselves in the Great Dismal Swamp. It turns out that this was a place where many fugitive slaves found refuge. These fugitives were called maroons, from the Spanish word cimarrón meaning wild or untamed. I was curious about the Great Dismal Swamp and found this map that gives one an idea of just how big it really is:

Unbound is historical fiction that tells an unusual story about slavery and escape and is a wonderful addition to this body of literature. I highly recommend it for all young readers.

Please Note - this is not for young readers, but I am including it for teachers and librarians: If you would like to know more about the slave narratives the Burg read in preparation for writing Unbound, the Library of Congress has a digital collection called Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Scholastic Press

Shackles from the Deep: Tracing the Path of a Sunken Slave Ship, a Bitter Past, and a Rich Legacy by Michael H. Cottman

Michael H. Cottman may be a Pulitzer Prize winning African American journalist and author, but he is also a passionate scuba diver. And it was because of his love of diving that he was brought into the history of a slave ship called the Henrietta Marie while attending a meeting of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers in Key West, Florida in 1992.

The story of the Henrietta Marie began in 1981, when shackles had been found on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. This was followed by the discovery of a ship's cannon, and finally, a few years later, a ship's bell. The bell was an important archaeological find because it gives the name of the ship and the date of the bell - Henrietta Marie 1699.

Knowing it was a slave ship, and feeling a strong emotional connection to the Africans that had been crammed and shackled in the ship's hull, Cottman decided he wanted to trace the history of the Henrietta Marie and to understand just how the slave trade worked. His quest was a much personal as it was professional.

Cottman's journey began in London, England, where he was able to learn more details about the slave trade, including the sheer numbers  of slaves exported annually (between 12,000 and 15,000), most kidnapped by raiding parties in Africa. While in England, Cottman also traveled to the location of the foundry that produced the cannons discovered on the Henrietta Marie.

Each piece of information Cottman discovered only led him to more questions and he found himself compelled to really follow further and further in the wake of the Henrietta Marie. From England, Cottman went to Barbados in the West Indies, where slaves were sold to wealthy plantation owners, then on to Jamaica, another port where slaves were also sold.

Finally, Cottman traveled to Africa, arrived in Dakar, Senegal. Here, he visited Gorée Island. Here, the author explains, is the House of Slaves (Maison des Esclaves), where kidnapped Africans would be chained up to wait in the heat until it was time to walk through the Door of No Return and board ships like the Henrietta Marie that would take them far from their homes to be sold at auction.

Cottman quest was an emotional one for him personally, knowing that he had descended from Africans like the ones who were on the Henreitta Marie. In a sense, that makes their story also his story. Does his journey provide Cottman with any kind of closure about his own history, or is it impossible to come to terms with the kind of inhumane, brutal treatment shown to the men, women, and children by their Europeans captors?

Michael Cottman's journey to discover the history of the slave ship the Henrietta Marie is both an informative endeavor and an emotional one. Certainly, his own emotions from the gamut of deep sadness to anger. But, he also includes a lot of information most likely unknown by the reader from each person and place that he visited, such as the Door of No Return in Senegal.

I found it so interesting that each place that Cottman visited, and wherever it was possible, he felt a compulsion to dive into the waters where the ship had been moored, feeling that it was a way to connect more strongly to the Africans who had been there before him and under such terrible conditions.

And while the writing has a definite journalistic feel to it, it is not unpleasant, difficult or graphic, and is a means for Cottman to include a lot of background information without sounding pedantic.

Shackles from the Deep is Michael Cottman's is homage to those many nameless men, women, and children who were taken out of Africa against their will, and he had given them a voice readers won't soon forget.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, National Geographic

FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Ashes (Seeds of America Trilogy - Book 3) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Ashes continues the story of Isabel and Curzon begun in Chains and continued in Forge, picking up the threads of their story 3 years later, beginning on June 25, 1781, and ending on November 5, 1781.  And while Chains was told from Isabel's point of view, and Forge was told from Curzon's point of view, in Ashes the story is again narrated by Isabel.

Three years have gone by since Isabel and Curzon escaped from Valley Forge and their enslavement by the cruel, sadistic Mister Bellingham. Now, as runaway slaves, they have already walked nearly 1,000 miles from Pennsylvania to Virginia to South Carolina in search of Isabel's younger, epileptic sister, Ruth, and dodging British and Continental patrols, armed Loyalists and bounty hunters along the way.

But when they finally find Ruth, Isabel doesn't get the reception she had been hoping for. Instead, Ruth is cold and won't even look at her sister.  She has been living with an elderly slave couple and a young boy named Aberdeen since being sent south in 1776. Though the couple love Ruth as if she were their own daughter, they tell her to go north with her sister and to do what she says. Ruth may be obedient to her sister's requests, but she still wants nothing to do with Isabel, refusing to even look at her, much to Isabel's disappointment.

Meanwhile, Curzon's loyalty is still with the Patriots, while Isabel feels that neither the British nor the Patriots will help enslaved people like themselves achieve freedom, no matter what they promise. The two argue about this endlessly, so when Curzon, Isabel, Ruth and Aberdeen meet up with the Continental Army at Williamsburg, Va, they decide to go their separate ways. Aberdeen chooses to work as a spy for the British, Curzon rejoins the Patriot army, and the two sisters find work in a laundry run by Widow Hallahan. With a promise to be paid money, Isabel also finds work washing up and later serving in a tavern owned by Widow Hallahan's son and frequented by the Americans and French. But once the armies move on the Yorktown, Isabel wonders what will happen. It doesn't take long to find out. Isabel rightly suspects that Widow Hallahan has plans for Ruth that don't include Isabel - shades of Mrs. Lockton's treachery in Chains that originally separated the two sisters.  Isabel quickly decides that it is time to leave, and the sisters make a daring exit from Williamsburg, following the armies to Yorktown, VA and finding work as cooks.

Though Isabel finds herself in the midst of the war, this last book in the trilogy is really about her, with the chaos and confusion of the war mirroring her thoughts and feelings about her and Ruth, and what the future will hold for them, and the place Curzon may or may not have in it. Isabel and Curzon have now known each other since she was 12 and he was 15. He is the only person she has ever really trusted, but as the war carries on around them, Isabel sees less and less of him, even as she thinks more and more about him. It takes a long time for Isabel to realize that Curzon can love her at the same time that he loves his country and he is willing for fight for both of them.

Laurie Halse Anderson has explored so many aspects of the Revolutionary War in her Seeds of America Trilogy that are not a part of the usual school curriculum.  And she has brilliantly woven them into the story of these young enslaved people who only want their freedom, paralleling their stories with that of the Patriots who are fighting for their freedom and independence from Britain. She offers readers a vibrant history of a war that we traditionally think of in terms of white soldiers and leaders being fought for white colonists, forgetting or not even knowing that there were many African American soldiers who also fought, generally in place of their owners, in the hope of gaining their freedom after the war is over, soldiers like Curzon; and girls like Isabel, who were charged with helping to care of the leaders of the war with no real hope of future freedom.

Ashes ends with the surrender of the British and the end of the war.  And for readers it is the end of Isabel and Curzon's stories, but Anderson offers us a hopeful conclusion to her Seeds of America trilogy, though there are no tidy answers about the future for Isabel, Curson, Ruth and Aberdeen. They must still head north, they are still considered to be runaway slaves, and there are still bounty hunters after them.

Chains, Forge, and Ashes are individually and as a trilogy so well-crafted that it takes my breath away when I think about it. They are honest, thought provoking, gripping adventure as they narrate the sensitive personal stories about people who traditionally have not had voice at that time. By giving Isabel and Curzon a voice, Anderson has opened our eyes to really thinking differently about the history of this country.

Be sure not to miss the extensive appendix at the end of the book which offers explanations and suggestions for further reading about many of the people, places and events included in Ashes.

I cannot recommend Chains, Forge, and Ashes highly enough.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was an EARC received from Edelweiss/Above the Treeline

Forge (Seeds of America Trilogy - Book 2) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Forge continues the story of Isabel and Curzon begun in Chains, picking up the threads of it almost 10 months later, beginning on October 7, 1777 and ending on May 18, 1778. And while Chains was told from Isabel's point of view, in Forge it switches to Curzon's voice.

Isabel and Curzon have gone their separate ways.  Isabel has run away, determined to find her sister Ruth while Curzon finds himself first in the midst of the Battle of Saratoga after saving the life of a Patriot soldier name Eben Woodruff of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Regiment and nephew of the regiment's commanding officer. From Saratoga it was on to the winter encampment at Valley Forge. Curzon enlists in the army in the hope of gaining his freedom and in the process, besides Eben, he makes a few other friends and a few enemies.

Valley Forge proves to be a real challenge.  There are no barracks, so they are ordered to built huts that are always cold and leaky, many of the soldiers don't even have shoes anymore, and must stand in the cold snow in bare frostbitten feet, many are ill with disease and every one is cold and hungry all the time, desperate for food, warm clothing and shoes that never seem to arrive.  And for Curson, because he is African American, it also meaning dealing with constant racism.

Isabel and Curzon may have gone their separate ways, but he never stops thinking about her.  Nor has Curzon forgotten his former master, the cruel, sadistic James Bellingham.  In Chains, Bellingham had enlisted Curzon to take his place in the army with the promise of his freedom after the war, a promise he has no intention of honoring.  When he shows up at Valley Forge, Curzon finds himself again in his clutches, having enlisted again as a free man when he was still owned by Bellingham. And to real surprise, after arriving at the house where Bellingham is staying, he finds that Isabel has also there, as well as another slave, Gideon, who refuses to even acknowledge Curzon. To keep Isabel in her place and, Bellingham has placed an iron ring around her neck as a constant reminded of her enslavement, and only he has the key to unlock it.

Curzon begins plans to escape Bellingham again, and tries to talk Isabel into going with him, but she seems more interested in Gideon now, and eventually reveals that they have their own plans to escape.  But Curzon doesn't trust Gideon, and it turns out, with good reason. When the truth about Gideon is discovered, will Curzon and Isabel be able to mend their friendship enough to attempt escape from Bellingham?

Like Chains, Forge never lets the reader forget the irony of African Americans fighting for the freedom of the country that has enslaved them, perhaps expressed best by Curzon's friend and fellow soldier Eben Woodruff who tells him "Two slaves running away from their rightful master is not the same as America wanting to be free of England." (pg 65) And Laurie Halse Anderson explores this irony in the attitudes and beliefs of a variety of different characters, American and British, rich and poor, as they impact the lives of Curzon and Isabel.

Isabel was such a compelling narrator in Chains, and I found that to be true of Curzon in Forge. By switching narrators, Anderson presents the harsh conditions on the battlefield and as well as in a house with a white man is a harsh master over his enslaved servants. I have to be honest and say that what happens on battlefields isn't something I am generally interested in, yet I found I couldn't put this down and have a better understanding of what the Patriot soldiers experienced than I ever did when we studied the Revolutionary War in school.

Just as she did in Chains, Anderson has included quotes at the beginning of each chapter, so taken from original sources and adding to the authenticity of the novel.  She also includes the dates during which each chapter occurs.  This kind of timeline approach also helps situate the reader in terms of what was actually happening in the Revolution.

Forge is a wonderful sequel to Chains, but it is also a novel that can stand alone.  And as I did with the first novel, I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Laurie Halse Anderson has excellent teaching resources for Forge.  You can find it HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Chains (Seeds of America Trilogy - Book 1) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Much of this review was posted on my other blog, The Children's War, as part of a Revolutionary War Reading Challenge a few years ago.  

Chains is the story of a young slave girl who yearns for freedom.  It takes place during the American Revolution and he time period covered in this first book of a trilogy is May 27, 1776 to January 19, 1777.  

Living in Rhode Island, Isabel, 13, and her younger sister Ruth are quickly sold by a greedy nephew for the money they will bring after their somewhat benevolent owner, Miss Fitch, passes away.  But Miss Fitch had promised them freedom after her death and Isabel can't get that promise out of her head. And unlike most slaves at the time, Isabel knows how to read. 

Now, as the American Revolution begins, the sisters find themselves in a Loyalist household in New York City at the mercy of a cruel mistress, Mrs. Lockton.  The Locktons, who believe their bread is buttered on the side of the Loyalists and King George III, despise the Patriots who want independence from them and everything they stand for.

It isn't long before Isabel meets Curzon, a young slave working for the Patriots, and known for the red tricorn hat he is always seen wearing.  Curzon convinces Isabel to spy on Mr. Lockton, and report anything she hears that might be useful to the Patriots.  Isabel isn't very enthusiastic about doing this, but when she is given the devastating news that Mrs. Lockton has sold Ruth, she changes her mind.  It had just been discovered that Ruth suffers from seizures and the very ignorant, superstitious Mrs. Lockton believes that they are a sign that the devil is in Ruth.

Curson proves to be a good friend to Isabel, although she has very mixed feelings about him, the war between the Patriots and the Loyalists and which side would be most beneficial to her in terms of getting her freedom. 

As the war heats up, so does Isabel's determination to find her sister and, as she is told by an elderly slave known as Grandfather, to find the way to cross her own River Jordan* to freedom.

Chains is written in the first person, so we always know exactly what is going on in Isabel's mind, how she perceives everything around her and, most poignantly, how she feels about the things that happen to her.  But by spying on Mr. Lockton and his friends, we are also given a certain amount of insight into the Loyalist side of things. 

Isabel is a very strong willed girl and Mrs. Lockton knows it and is determined to break that will and so she is constantly trying to tighten the chains of slavery that bind Isabel.  Yet, it takes a while for the realization that Mrs. Lockton cannot chain her soul to really sink in to Isabel's consciousness, even though all her actions had always already proven it to be true.  Her strength in the face of Mrs. Lockton, her wavering between the Patriots and the Loyalists, her determination and her innate sense of kindness despite everything all make Isabel such an exemplary protagonist. 

In fact, Anderson has created a whole cast of characters in Chains who play their parts to perfection.  Set against the backdrop of New York City,  Anderson has written a brilliantly crafted novel in which the fictional walk through the historical and it is spot on.  Anderson has even turned New York into a character in its own right, by staying true to the history of the time (NB: I used to teach New York history to my 4th graders and it was my favorite thing to teach).

One of the things I really liked about Chains were the quotes used at the beginning of each chapter. These quotes are from actual sources of the time that help situate the reader and gives the novel a real feeling of authenticity.

I don't think I could possibly recommend this book highly enough.

Laurie Halse Anderson has excellent teaching resources for Chains, including a section on how to put on a colonial tea (with some really good recipes).  You can find it HERE

This book is recommended for readers aged 10+
This book was purchased for my personal library

*I was talking to a friend about Chains and she said she didn't get the River Jordan reference, which is a reference to God's command that after the death of Moses, Joshua would lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land by crossing the River Jordan.

Africa is My Home: A Child of the Amistad by Monika Edinger, illustrated by Robert Byrd

The Amistad Revolt has been the subject of many books, movies and classrooms and even law schools for many years now.  Which means that we have learned about the Amistad from various male points of view, but never have we heard about it from the vantage point of one of the four underage female children that had also been abducted from Mendeland, West Africa (now Sierra Leone) and shipped to Havana, Cuba to be sold.  Until now.

Africa is my Home is the story of Margru, only 9 years old sold to slave traders.  Her journey began when famine struck her country.  Her father was forced to pawn her out for rice to feed the rest of the family.  But when he couldn't pay his debt, Margru was sold to traders and put on the ship Amistad along with 52 other men, women and children, who had either been abducted or used as pawn and sold like Margru.

In Cuba, the adults and four children were sold and put on the Amistad, heading to a Caribbean plantation.  But along the way, the men, led by a young African man nicknamed Cinque, rebelled, and after much fighting and death, took over the ship and attempted to sail back to Africa.  But, deceived by the ships navigator, they found themselves landing on the eastern tip of Long Island, NY and from there, they were placed into custody in New Haven, CT.  The adults went on trial, the children were used as witnesses.

And it is here that Margru's education began, leading her all the way to Oberlin College and eventually returning to Africa as a teacher.

Although Africa is my Home, is based on real persons and events, it should be remembered that it is a work of historical fiction.  I say this because you might have a little trouble remembering it, since the writing is just that good.  It is clear that Monica Edinger feels quite passionately about this story and has  really done her research.

Writing from a child's perspective, we can palpably feel Margu's homesickness, confusion and fear, as well as her ambiguity about putting on western-style clothing, her dislike of snow and her desire for a "free" name, eventually choosing to call herself Sarah Kinson.

I did find that the writing was somewhat uneven.  Sometimes it is just beautifully lyrical, the poems that are included are truly lovely, but the prose was occasionally flat, and it jarred me out of the story, despite the enthusiasm that I know Edinger feels for her subject.  Still, this is a solid 4 Star book.

Africa is my Home is wonderfully illustrated by Robert Byrd, whose work prompted me to buy Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! a few years ago, before I had even read it.  The ink and watercolor illustrations are all done in colors, shades and tones that reflect the greens and blues of Africa, the colorful images of Cuba, the darkness of the Amistad, and pastels of dreams and poems, enhancing and extending the story being told.

Africa Is My Home is wonderful supplement to a difficult topic and time in American history and is a must for all school libraries or, better yet, all classrooms.  Back matter includes an Author's Note and list of selected sources.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was borrowed from a friend

The National Archives offers original documents pertaining to the Amistad Rebellion, including teaching activities and a printable document analysis worksheet.  You may access them HERE

The Price of Freedom: how one town stood up to slavery by Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin, illustrated by Eric Velasquez

 In 1856, freedom was just across the river in Ohio for Kentucky slaves Dinah, John and Frank.   One frigid cold night, the three took horses from their master's barn and rode across the frozen river.  On the other side, they met an elderly Quaker who sheltered the frozen runaways.  After for two weeks.  Dinah went her own way and John and Frank headed north together.

The two men had to keep going, hoping to reach Canada before they were caught because Congress had just passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which meant that a slave owner could capture a runaway slave anywhere in the US and made aiding a runaway slave was a federal crime.

Along their route, Frank and John had help from the various Underground Railroad "station" they came to.  They had almost reached Canada when they decided to spend the rest of the winter in Oberlin, Ohio.  There they took odd jobs and they like Oberlin so much, they decided to stay longer.

Until 1858, when several slave hunters showed up looking for the two runaways.  Frank and John were worth $500 each to their leader, Kentuckian Anderson Jennings.  But the town of Oberlin wasn't going to let this happen without a showdown...

In the end, neither John nor Frank or even Dinah were returned to Kentucky.  But 37 townsmen were charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act and sentenced to three months in prison...three months that only strengthened their resolve to aid runaway slaves in what ever way they could.

The Price of Freedom is a true story and another of those picture books for older readers that bring aspects of American history to life in such an effective way.  The text is simple, straightforward and factual but without being patronizing and coupled with realistic illustrations that compliment and extend the text even further.  Artist Eric Velasquez has expertly rendered the illustrations using mixed-media and oil paint, in dark hues that reflect the dramatic times depicted in the text.

The 37 Men of Oberlin, Ohio

There is a old photograph of the 37 men who went to prison at the end of the book giving absolute credibility to the story of what happened in the town of Oberlin, Ohio.  In the back matter, Fradin and Fradin have also included brief description of the Underground Railroad as well as a Bibliography, suggestions for further reading and websites where curious readers can find more information.

All this makes The Price of Freedom a welcomed addition to any classroom or home-school or for introducing any reluctant young readers to non-fiction through narrative.  But whatever the reason, this is a book well worth reading.

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

This is book 9 of my 2012 Nonfiction Picture Book Reading Challenge hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy

Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet by Andrea Cheng

A few years ago, we met Dave in Labab Carrick Hill's wonderful picture book Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, illustrated by Bryan Collier.  This year, we meet Dave again in Andrea Cheng's new verse novel for middle graders.

In Etched in Clay, Cheng imagines Dave's life from the day he was bought for $500. at auction as a strong, intelligent young man approximately 17 years old.  He was bought in 1815 by Harvey Drake as a slave to help dig up clay for the Potterville Stoneware Manufactory, a business founded by relatives Abner and Amos Landrum.   Drake, now a partner in the business, gives the new slave the name Dave.

One day, while watching Master Drake turning a pot, Dave is asked if he would like to learn how to do it.  Dave turns out to be a quick learner and an imaginative artisan, displaying more talent than most in throwing, shaping and glazing good looking saleable clay pots and jars.   And he enjoys creating different kinds in various sizes for different uses.

One day, Drake's wife Sarah, a religious woman, tells her husband to give Dave a spelling book to help in learn to read, so he may read the Scriptures and be saved.  Defying the law against it, Dave does learn to read as well as write and soon he is etching his name on the pots and jars he creates.  Later, he begins to write short verses on them.  Even when he is told to stop do this, Dave defies the order and continues to express himself.

Dave's own life isn't quite as satisfying as his life as a potter.  Because he is property, he has no freedom.  He is bought and sold several times to various members of the Drake and Landrum family.  His first wife Eliza is sold despite his begging to spare her.  His second wife is taken away to live elsewhere, and even the young stepsons he has grown to love are sold.  And one night, Dave got so drunk, he laid on the railroad tracks to rest and lost a leg when the train ran over it, saving him from being moved to Louisiana, but making other things more difficult to do.

Etched in Clay is the story of Dave's life as Cheng imagined it to be like based on what little known facts there are about this gifted potter and his exquisite pottery, often using the very words Dave etched in clay to piece it together.  It is written in a series of spare free verse poems from the perspective of not only Dave but of every important person in his life, creating not just Dave's biography but giving the reader a more rounded sense of what his life really might have been like:

Someday the world will read
my word etched in clay
on the side of this jar
and know about the shackles
around out legs
and the whips
upon our backs.
I am not afraid
to write on a jar
and fire it hot
so my word.
can never be erased (pg 63-64)

Dave and Eliza

Not only did Cheng write the poems in Etched in Clay, but she has also created brilliant woodcuts to illustrate them.  The simple black and white woodcuts, a common form of graphic illustration in the 19th century, have a rather primitive folk art feel to them reflecting the crude conditions in which the slaves were forced to live.

Cheng has included a map of South Carolina showing places relevant to Dave's life and a short who's who of the different narrators used in the book as well as an afterward, history of Edgefield Pottery (one of the places Dave made pots and jars), some of Dave's poems and a list of sources used.

Etched in Clay is an unforgettable, inspiring story of a quiet rebel and artisan that is not to be missed.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

You can download a Classroom Guide for Etched in Clay HERE

You can see how Andrea Cheng made the woodcuts for Etched in Clay HERE

You can see a wonderful example of a Jar made by Dave HERE