As the students in the local public schools have been preparing for their end of grade tests, they have been reading more non-fiction tests. The Common Core places an emphasis on non-fiction that has been questioned by a lot of people, but I actually find that when teachers and librarians take the time to find compelling texts, the emphasis makes sense. Below is a review of a new non-fiction book that is an example of exactly the kind of texts that will help our students become the best readers they can be.
Beginning with the rejection of a suitor, and ending with a wedding, this fast-paced narrative of the true story of a young girl’s attempted escape from slavery and subsequent capture is heart-wrenching and hopeful, all at once. Passenger on the Pearl follows thirteen-year-old Emily Edmonson to a ship that is supposed to take her north to freedom, through re-enslavement in New Orleans, and eventually on to a life of freedom. In this engaging narrative, readers get to know Emily and her incredibly strong family. The book also places the family firmly within the time period, focusing on the daily lives of other enslaved people, the slave traders, and the abolitionists, including well-known figures such as Frederick Douglas. The well-known author and abolitionist Harriett Beecher Stowe and her brother Henry Ward Beecher figure prominently in the story, with much of the research relying on Stowe’s first-hand accounts of the girl’s voyage to freedom.
This amazing journey, carefully researched by journalist and author Winifred Conkling, brings the reader right into the period before the Civil War. Through first person slave narratives, abolitionist writings, and other historical documents, Conkling illustrates the antebellum South and the nation’s capital at this turbulent time in United States history. Period photographs, illustrations, and documents complement the compelling narrative, with sidebars that inform and bring context to the narrative. With an easily searched index, a section with books and websites to visit for more information, a family tree, and a timeline, this work provides all the information a reader could need to delve into this period in history. While this book tells the tale of the largest attempted slave attempt in American history, it is a part of slavery that is too often ignored. This book gives great detail about slavery in Washington DC and Maryland, both eventually part of the Union, as well as the slave trade that continued within the United States long after slave imports were outlawed. This work of narrative non-fiction belongs in every school library, history classroom, and the shelf of anyone who enjoys the stories of the nation's history.
Passenger on the Pearl: the True story of Emily Edmonson's Flight from Slavery. By Winifred Conkling. 2015. Algonquin Young Readers, $17.95 (9781616201968). Gr. 6-9.
This amazing journey, carefully researched by journalist and author Winifred Conkling, brings the reader right into the period before the Civil War. Through first person slave narratives, abolitionist writings, and other historical documents, Conkling illustrates the antebellum South and the nation’s capital at this turbulent time in United States history. Period photographs, illustrations, and documents complement the compelling narrative, with sidebars that inform and bring context to the narrative. With an easily searched index, a section with books and websites to visit for more information, a family tree, and a timeline, this work provides all the information a reader could need to delve into this period in history. While this book tells the tale of the largest attempted slave attempt in American history, it is a part of slavery that is too often ignored. This book gives great detail about slavery in Washington DC and Maryland, both eventually part of the Union, as well as the slave trade that continued within the United States long after slave imports were outlawed. This work of narrative non-fiction belongs in every school library, history classroom, and the shelf of anyone who enjoys the stories of the nation's history.
Passenger on the Pearl: the True story of Emily Edmonson's Flight from Slavery. By Winifred Conkling. 2015. Algonquin Young Readers, $17.95 (9781616201968). Gr. 6-9.