I can't read a Christopher Paul Curtis book without thinking Newbery. His latest, Elijah of Buxton, won a Newbery Honor this year. Being a nut for historical fiction, this was a story for me. It educated me about a free township started by a white minister for runaway slaves in Canada during the 1850s.
Told by eleven year old Elijah, the first
"free born" child in the settlement of Buxton. I learned what life was
like for the kids, who had not known what it was like to be a slave,
and their parents who could not forget. A historical town, Buxton was just over the border in Canada from Detroit where slavery was still the law of the land. Elijah, is educated with the other kids in the Buxton, including white kids and some native Indian from neighboring towns. The settlement had strict rules of size of houses, land that needed farming and giving back to the settlement in many forms. We learned how they thrived and prospered. Occasionally they would welcome runaway slaves, who were frightened and starved, into the community. Many in the settlement still had relatives in bondage in the states and were saving money to free them. Elijah's world is turned upside down when he helps a former slave go south to try and free his family. Through Elijah's eyes, I was crushed with the appalling conditions of slavery and the helplessness many must have felt over it. This is a fabulous book, like all of Christopher Paul Curtis's books and a great read.
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