Winner of the 1974 Newbery Medal
One day, thirteen-year-old jessie Bollier is earning pennies playing his fife on the docks of New Orleans; the next, he is kidnapped and thrown aboard a slave ship, where his job is to provide music while shackled slaves "dance" to keep their muscles strong and their bodies profitable.
As the endless voyage continues, Jessie grows increasingly sickened by the greed, brutality, and inhumanity of the slave trade, but nothing prepares him for the ultimate horror he will witness before his nightmare ends -- a horror that will change his life forever.---from the publisher
192 pages 978-1416971399 Ages 11-14
Keywords: kidnapping, slavery, ship, music, historical fiction, inhumanity, abuse, diversity, diverse books, Diversity: Oppression and Resilience, 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old, Newbery Medal, Black Lives Matter
