In this ambitious but convoluted piece of semi-fiction, Lois Ruby builds a story from historical facts surrounding the Underground Railroad. Meant as a companion to Steal Away Home (not reviewed) Ruby sets her narrative in alternating chapters that bounce back and forth by 150 years. In the late–20th century Dana lives with her parents in a bed & breakfast, a house that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad and occupied by the young James Weaver. When Dana catches their first guests prowling around late at night in the closets and bathrooms, she tries to piece together how this is linked to the rich history of the house and to the demise of the Delaware Indians. Meanwhile, in the 1857 chapters, the reader learns how events transpired as we follow James Weaver on a harrowing trek to bring a family of slaves to freedom. After many miles and many dangers James and those in his care are nearly home-free when he is forced to make a devastating choice between saving the slaves with whom he has traveled so long and hiding the treaty which could save Delaware Indians and their land. Ruby drafts her main characters, James and Dana, with care and depth, but a number of peripheral characters are mere tracings. It is easy to become disoriented by the jumble of people and events and the flip-flopping of time periods is disconcerting. By dramatizing these episodes, Ruby recreates the evils waged against both Native Americans and African-Americans in this country, but this effort would have been more successful had she concentrated on the historical half of her tale. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-83266-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
Essential.
A measured corrective to pervasive myths about what is often referred to as the “first Thanksgiving.”
Contextualizing them within a Native perspective, Newell (Passamaquoddy) touches on the all-too-familiar elements of the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving and its origins and the history of English colonization in the territory now known as New England. In addition to the voyage and landfall of the Mayflower, readers learn about the Doctrine of Discovery that arrogated the lands of non-Christian peoples to European settlers; earlier encounters between the Indigenous peoples of the region and Europeans; and the Great Dying of 1616-1619, which emptied the village of Patuxet by 1620. Short, two- to six-page chapters alternate between the story of the English settlers and exploring the complex political makeup of the region and the culture, agriculture, and technology of the Wampanoag—all before covering the evolution of the holiday. Refreshingly, the lens Newell offers is a Native one, describing how the Wampanoag and other Native peoples received the English rather than the other way around. Key words ranging from estuary to discover are printed in boldface in the narrative and defined in a closing glossary. Nelson (a member of the Leech Lake Band of Minnesota Chippewa) contributes soft line-and-color illustrations of the proceedings. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Essential. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-72637-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
A pleasing new picture book looks at George Washington’s career through an agricultural lens. Sprinkling excerpts from his letters and diaries throughout to allow its subject to speak in his own voice, the narrative makes a convincing case for Washington’s place as the nation’s First Farmer. His innovations, in addition to applying the scientific method to compost, include a combination plow-tiller-harrow, the popularization of the mule and a two-level barn that put horses to work at threshing grain in any weather. Thomas integrates Washington’s military and political adventures into her account, making clear that it was his frustration as a farmer that caused him to join the revolutionary cause. Lane’s oil illustrations, while sometimes stiff, appropriately portray a man who was happiest when working the land. Backmatter includes a timeline, author’s notes on both Mount Vernon and Washington the slaveholder, resources for further exploration and a bibliography. (Picture book/biography. 8-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59078-460-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2008
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