Slavery

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Novela basada en la epoca de la esclavitud en el sur de los estados unidos

This book has been a favorite of mine since almost before I can remember! I think Mom introduced me to it when I was in my first few years of school, and I’ve read it several times since then. Most recently, I realized my next-younger sister had never heard it, so we had it as our bedtime story for a month or so.

Although this is a runaway slave story, it is very gentle in its descriptions. Several times, you hear that things happen—but the way they’re told of is suitable even for 6- and 7-year-olds. I was quite impressed rereading it this time around—it’s been well over ten years since I last read the story, but it’s still as gripping now as it was then, and I still found myself rooting for the characters the same way! What makes it even better is knowing that this is based on true stories, not just made up. Probably my most favorite “escape to freedom” story ever, I’d highly recommend you pick this up if you haven’t had a chance to yet. ( )

The first time I read this book was around 1998 I guess, when I was in grade 5-ish? I don't really remember. I remember liking this book though, and it's still pretty good. I'm glad it's being taught in schools. It's nice that the main character is a young black girl and that she gets to tell her own story. Though I know that there were lots of white folks helping along the underground railroad, and that Barbara Smucker did include some black people who also risked their lives to help slaves escape, only two white people were bio'd at the end of the book. Presumably this is because the two characters based on real people were white dudes, but I don't think it would have been hard to find some real black people to base some characters on too. ( )