Elijah Freeman was the first baby to be born free in the runaway slave settlement of Buxton in Ontario, Canada in 18. Now he's eleven years old, and, through his eyes and his voice, we walk among and live among the families who are carving out and claiming their rightful place in this free world. It's filled with humor and wry moments that carry the reader along through one adventure after another and some very poignant times. This is a 2008 Newbery Honor winner.
365 pages 978-0439023443 Ages 9-13
Book Pairing: Pair this book with Lest We Forget: The Passage from Africa to Slavery and Emancipation: A Three-Dimensional Interactive Book with Photographs and Documents from the Black Holocaust Exhibit by Velma Maia Thomas (contributed by Tricia-Stohr Hunt)
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He's best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah’s friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled -- a life from which he’ll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home.--from the publisher
