Stealing Freedom

In this story of a young girl's escape from slavery via the Underground Railroad--based on the true story of Ann Maria Weems--Robin Miles brings the struggles and triumphs of one slave family to life with her expressive voice and emotional reading. Miles captures the vocal cadences of these Maryland slaves, and her deep tones, even and tempered but never meek, transport the listener into their lives. The stilted Irish brogue of the Prices, the family that owns Ann and her family, is a counterpoint to the voices of the close-knit Weems family. As Ann, assisted by abolitionists, makes her escape to Canada, she encounters many who help her--from the lawyer Mr. Bigelow, who is portrayed in a straightforward, relaxed voice, to the minister who accompanies Ann on the train across the border, whose voice is alternately weary and full of excitement at his part in securing her freedom. E.N. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 30, 1998
Carbone (Starting School with an Enemy) bases this dramatic, often poignant historical novel on the life of Ann Maria Weems, a Maryland slave who, disguised as a boy, escaped to Canada at the age of 13. When the story opens in 1853, the 11-year-old, her mother and siblings are the property of Charles Price; her father is legally free, yet he, too, works "from first light to last light." Though Papa assures Ann Maria that Price would never break up a family, "Master Charles" sells off the three Weems sons and later insists that Ann Maria remain his slave when Mr. Bigelow, an abolitionist, buys her mother and sister. In one of the tale's most wrenching scenes, the girl watches her parents and sister ride off to their new life and realizes that "the fabric of her family had been ripped again, and she was the piece that was being torn off." Ann Maria's harrowing escape, masterminded by Bigelow, gives youngsters an immediate, at times thrilling account of the workings of the Underground Railroad; the view of the Weemses' family life provides some idea of the incredible determination and ingenuity of slaves aspiring to freedom. Imaginatively and sensitively adapted from historical records, this portrait will evoke admiration for the courage of both those who resisted slavery and those who endured it. Ages 10-up.