Eliza's Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary | TheBookSeekers

Eliza's Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary


School year: Lower 6th, Upper 6th, Year 10, Year 11, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Year 7, Year 8, Year 9

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No. of pages 160

Published: 2011

Great for age 7-17 years

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Christopher Awardwinning author Jerdine Nolen imagines a young womans journey from slavery to freedom in this intimate and powerful novel that was named an ALA/YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults nominee.It is 1854 in Alexandria, Virginia. Elizas mother has been sold away and Eliza is left as a slave on a Virginia farm. It is Abbey, the cook, who looks after Eliza, when she isnt taking care of the Mistress. Eliza has only the quilt her mother left her and the stories her mother told to keep her mothers memory close. When the Mistresss health begins to fail and Eliza overhears the Master talk of the Slave sale auction and of Eliza being traded, she takes to the night. She follows the path and the words of the farmhand Old Joe: Travel the night. Sleep the dayGo east. Keep your back to the setting of the sun. Come to the safe house with a candlelight in the windowThat gal, Harriet, shell take you. All the while, Eliza recites the stories her mother taught her as she travels along her freedom road from Marys Land to Pennsylvania to Freedoms Gate in St. Catharines, Canada, where she finds not only her freedom but also more than she could have hoped for.

 

 

This book is the winner of numerous awards

This book is aimed at children at US 3rd grade-7th grade.

This book has been graded for interest at 8-12 years.

There are 160 pages in this book. This book was published in 2011 by Simon & Schuster .

Patricia Hruby Powell's previous book, Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker , won a Sibert Honor for Nonfiction, a Coretta Scott King Honor, and five starred reviews. She lives in Illinois. Shadra Strickland is an illustrator whose work has won an Ezra Jack Keats Award, a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, and an NAACP Image Award. She lives in Maryland. JERDINE NOLEN is the author of many beloved picture books, including Plantzilla and Raising Dragons , which won the Christopher Award and was a Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children. She lives in Maryland. KADIR NELSON has illustrated many popular books for children, including Just the Two of Us by Will Smith and Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee. He lives in California.

 

This book has been nominated for the following awards:

Volunteer State Book Award - Intermediate
This book was recognised in the Intermediate category by the Volunteer State Book Award.

Land of Enchantment Book Award - YA
This book was recognised in the YA category by the Land of Enchantment Book Award.

Black-Eyed Susan Award - Grades 4-6
This book was recognised in the Grades 4-6 category by the Black-Eyed Susan Award.

"Like the young slave girl who watches a cook `stirring tears into...stew," Nolen stirs Eliza's sad and frightening diary into a rich, empowering story. There's enough history here to make this required reading, but the urgency of Eliza's voice makes this trip back in time a compelling page turner brimming with authentic details. Jerdine Nolen truly brings Eliza to life and puts you right on the road north with her...the road to freedom."-Pat Cummings

 

"Like the young slave girl who watches a cook 'stirring tears into...stew," Nolen stirs Eliza's sad and frightening diary into a rich, empowering story. There's enough history here to make this required reading, but the urgency of Eliza's voice makes this trip back in time a compelling page turner brimming with authentic details. Jerdine Nolen truly brings Eliza to life and puts you right on the road north with her...the road to freedom."--Pat Cummings

 

NOLEN, Jerdine. Eliza's Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary. 160p. map. bibliog. Web sites. S & S/Paula Wiseman Bks. 2011. Tr $14.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-5814-7; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-1723-6. LC number unavailable.

Gr 4-7-As she turns 12, Eliza is a Virginia house slave, increasingly responsible for the care of the ailing mistress who taught her to read and write. Since Sir sold her mother a year earlier, Eliza has only motherly cook Abbey, the discarded diary Abbey encourages her to write in, and a story quilt her mother made. When the mistress takes Eliza along to stay with family in Maryland, Eliza learns of the Underground Railroad from fellow slaves and a found stack of newspapers containing the serialized Uncle Tom's Cabin. With the help of a shadowy Harriet Tubman herself, Eliza escapes to freedom in Ontario, where by chance she reunites with her mother. Presented as the girl's diary published later by the adult Elizabeth, the narrative suffers from thin characterizations and awkward pacing resulting from sometimes forced pauses to record her mother's stories. -Riva Pollard, Prospect Sierra Middle School, El Cerrito, CA

"- SLJ February 2011"