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Freedom's Price
فرمت کتاب
ebook
تاریخ انتشار
2015
Lexile Score
630
Reading Level
2-3
ATOS
4.5
Interest Level
4-8(MG)
نویسنده
Rosemary Nicholsشابک
9781629794327
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
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August 1, 2015
Gr 5-8-History comes alive in this imagining of the life of Eliza Scott, one of the daughters of Dred Scott, the slave at the center of a landmark case in American history. This novel begins after the Scott family has sued their owners for their freedom and they're waiting to hear a VERDICT. The Scotts are forced to live in the St. Louis, MO, jail, and all of the wages they earn are held in escrow by the sheriff. Not much is known about the real-life Eliza, but these authors' depict her as brave, headstrong, and intelligent. She attends a secret school for black children where she has learned to read, and she longs for a different life than that of her parents. But it is her fear of being imprisoned that ultimately puts her freedom in jeopardy. Against her mother's wishes, Eliza takes a job with one of her father's former owners, Charlotte Charless. In the midst of the chaos and fear caused by a cholera outbreak, Eliza crosses paths with the greedy son of Charlotte, Mark Charless, who is desperate for money to fund his Gold Rush dreams. As her family is fighting for their freedom, Eliza's own struggle takes a more dramatic and immediate turn. Not shying away from some of the ugly truths from this part of our country's history, this book addresses slavery, kidnapping, and the overall appalling treatment of black people. While the characterization is well done, the dialogue is a bit stiff. Ultimately, however, this book is a compelling and exciting narrative as well as a window into a possible history. VERDICT A great choice to support school curriculum.-Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO
Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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August 1, 2015
This entry in MacCall and Nichols' Hidden Histories series takes a fictional look at the Dred Scott decision. Eliza Scott lives like she's free, but her liberty is tenuous, at best. She is the 11-year-old daughter of Dred Scott, the litigant in the eponymous 1857 U.S. Supreme Court case regarding African-Americans' liberties. She and her family live in a nether life between independence and slavery, and she, like quite a few hardheaded preteens, wants to live as though freedom is an assumption, not a wish. However, the realities the Scotts experience curtail Eliza's sense of entitlement. They must live in a St. Louis jail while awaiting the outcome of the trial and avoid slave catchers who, as her mother reminds Eliza, could kidnap her and sell her-and then there's the cholera outbreak that kills regardless of race or gender. As she struggles with this contradiction, she manages to make decisions that jeopardize her, her family, and her community. The narrow-escape scenarios MacColl and Nichols create shouldn't lead readers to cheer Eliza's pluck so much as to shake their heads at her foolhardiness-and in the antebellum United States, such foolhardiness would have led to sexual violence, if not death. While most middle-grade readers may not know this, presenting it as otherwise, even in a fictional frame, does both them and history a disservice. It's understandable to want to create spunky historical heroines, but some children in the past weren't free to be headstrong-their survival depended on caution. To write fiction otherwise becomes gross revisionism. (author's note, sources, further reading) (Historical fiction. 8-12)
COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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