1 of 1 copy available
Then I heard a humming sound so near that my blanged legs and breathing frozed up all over again. Whatever it was that was making that sound was so close that even my eyeballs locked where they were at. Then I started sliding my eyes off to the left. Someone had leaned some dark bundles or sacks up ‘gainst the left hand side of the stable. There were five of ‘em. The noise commenced again, sounding like someone fishing ‘round trying to figure which song they were ‘bout to hum.
It was one of the bundles! It had four live, moving arms! I couldn’t believe I’d come all they way to the United States of America to see my first haint!
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
March 11, 2008 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780739364161
- File size: 258492 KB
- Duration: 08:58:31
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- ATOS Level: 5.4
- Lexile® Measure: 980
- Interest Level: 4-8(MG)
- Text Difficulty: 5-7
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Reviews
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A rich story and authentic sounding dialect distinguish this dynamic audio. Curtis's Caldecott Honor Book tells the story of Elijah, an 11-year-old boy who is the first freeborn black in his Buxton, Canada, settlement. Elijah is working on overcoming his fears of snakes and living down the story of how, as a baby, he threw up on Frederick Douglass. Mirron Willis delivers depth of emotion as he shapes the story's rhythms and pacing. He successfully shifts from a light comedic tone of much of the story to a tone of chilling determination when Elijah becomes involved in a dangerous mission to free a group of slaves. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine -
September 10, 2007
Elijah Freeman, 11, has two claims to fame. He was the first child “born free” to former slaves in Buxton, a (real) haven established in 1849 in Canada by an American abolitionist. The rest of his celebrity, Elijah reports in his folksy vernacular, stems from a “tragical” event. When Frederick Douglass, the “famousest, smartest man who ever escaped from slavery,” visited Buxton, he held baby Elijah aloft, declaring him a “shining bacon of light and hope,” tossing him up and down until the jostled baby threw up—on Douglass. The arresting historical setting and physical comedy signal classic Curtis (Bud, Not Buddy
), but while Elijah's boyish voice represents the Newbery Medalist at his finest, the story unspools at so leisurely a pace that kids might easily lose interest. Readers meet Buxton's citizens, people who have known great cruelty and yet are uncommonly polite and welcoming to strangers. Humor abounds: Elijah's best friend puzzles over the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” and decides it's about sexual reproduction. There's a rapscallion of a villain in the Right Reverend Deacon Doctor Zephariah Connerly the Third, a smart-talking preacher no one trusts, and, after 200 pages, a riveting plot: Zephariah makes off with a fortune meant to buy a family of slaves their freedom. Curtis brings the story full-circle, demonstrating how Elijah the “fra-gile” child has become sturdy, capable of stealing across the border in pursuit of the crooked preacher, and strong enough to withstand a confrontation with the horrors of slavery. The powerful ending is violent and unsettling, yet also manages to be uplifting. Ages 9-12.
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