In a visually and emotionally provocative picture book for mature older children and young adults, Julius Lester provides text to go with twenty-two powerful, boldly coloured oil paintings by artist Rod Brown from his exhibit From Slavery to Freedom. Some of Brown’s images are of terrible things—bodies of Africans, who did not survive the Middle Passage, bobbing in the sea; the bleeding welts on a slave’s back; and the silhouette of a hanged slave—and the author uses some charged language to accompany these pictures. Lester pushes his readers with probing questions and mental exercises. He asks them to imagine themselves into the experiences of slaves: their transport from West Africa to the New World, their sale at auction, their work in plantation fields and houses, their attempts at running away, participation in the American Civil War, and finally their release from slavery by Lincoln’s 1862 Emancipation Proclamation or by the later arrival of Union soldiers.

Some of Lester’s questions are intended to encourage empathy: “How would I feel if that happened to me?” Some ask readers to look more closely at the paintings and to imagine what the painted figures are thinking or talking about. Still others challenge young people to confront “something more difficult”—for example, what it was like to be “not the victim, but the aggressor.” Lester observes: “We may think that we would never whip someone until their flesh cried blood. But what if you would not be punished for doing it? What if your peers approved and deemed you honorable and good for beating someone?” Regarding the principled white people who assisted fugitive slaves to the northern states or Canada, the author asks: “Would you risk going to jail to help someone you didn’t know? Would you risk losing your freedom to help someone not of your race?”

Thinking about this short, forty-paged book, I find it remarkable how much Lester has managed to pack in. Not only does he cover a great deal of American history, but he also considers larger questions about the importance of stories—those that diminish and those that empower, what it means to be human, and what freedom consists of. “Freedom from slavery was not the same as freedom to do whatever they [slaves] wanted.” It is “a promise we are still learning to keep.” ( )

This book has pictures that address the history of slavery and what it was like. This book reenacts the 250 year journey from the first slave ships taking African Americans forcibly from their homes, to the civil war and emancipation. Browns painting in the book shows the truth about whipping and lynching's, the bodies of Africans floating near slave ships in the ocean, and angry slave tending white children, attempting to escapes, and eventually, the final, joyful road to freedom. The way it all went down is shown in this book. This book is good for your students to read because African Americans can examine their own feelings about being descended from slaves, provides Caucasians students with an insight into the African-American experience. This challenges students of all backgrounds to understand what it was in human nature that allowed the terrible institution of slavery to survive for so long. ( )

Genre: historical fiction
In the beginning of this book, the author asks the reader to imagine "suddenly a spaceship lands and people of a skin color you have never seen come out of the ship and drag you aboard-you, your family, neighbors, and friends." This exercise is very similar to the experiences that the African Americans faced during slavery. White Americans came on ships and took the African Americans, along with their families and friends. By incorporating this exercise, it allows the reader to capture the true experience and feelings themselves through their imagination.
I would recommend it to upper elementary. ( )

This book had a strong message but I do not feel as though it is appropriate for any classroom. The paragraphs are lengthy and the font is rather small. The word choice is too mature for elementary school students. I do feel like the story offers an essential history lesson, but this book does so in a harsh and aggressive manner. If the book was in a chapter book format, I feel like it would be a better fit for late middle school or high school readers. The pictures are very visually interesting and shows the rich and beautiful parts of African American History. The voices in the book are historically relevant as is the setting. Many things such as brutal beatings and foul language would not be appropriate for the classroom. ( )

I liked this book for two reasons. First, it pushes readers to think about tough issues and broadens perspectives. Because this book deals with difficult concepts such as slavery, the text forces the audience to think about this horrific time in American history in a new light and helps the audience understand what happened during this time. Along with this, the text incorporations "Imagination Exercises" which are activities that the author wants the readers to mentally do so the readers can discover their feelings about this topic. Some of the imagination exercise questions include, "Let's be honest, black people. Many of us are ashamed that we are descendants of slaves aren't we? Something inside us cringes at the sight of these black women washing the white man's clothes and hoeing the white man's field" (p. 15). With these exercises throughout the book as well as direct questions, the author is pushing readers to really think about slavery and their opinions about it. I also like this book because of the language. The language is descriptive and evokes emotions in the audience with the word choice. For example, the author writes, "Step right up! New shipment of niggers just in. These niggers are as black as Satan's thoughts, which means it don't matter how hot the sun gets, they will work like it's the cool of day. However, they're so black, it's hard to se them in the dark" (p. 12). With this descriptive language, the author paints a vivid picture in the readers' mind and evokes both thought and emotion. The cruel word choice shows how awful African Americans were treated, and the language helps this message come across to the audience. Overall, the big idea of this book is to show the hardships and difficult times African Americans faced during slavery and forces the audience to reflect on their own feelings and opinions. ( )