The Underground Railroad for Kids

March 1, 2005
Gr 5-9 -Beginning with a time line that traces the history of slavery in America, this thorough overview includes a narrative history, many quotes from primary sources, archival drawings and photographs, and 21 related projects. The main text is printed in black ink; quotations from historical sources are printed in sepia, as are the illustrations. Brief biographies are provided for famous conductors such as Harriet Tubman, and the many stationmasters, brakemen, and courageous African-American and white individuals who served as guides. The volume is densely packed with information. Occasionally the material introduced in the text is repeated in the sidebars. The activities seem geared to a younger audience than the one to which the rest of the book is addressed and are in some cases simplistic and potentially offensive. For example, dressing up like Seminoles or tying up one's passion in a cloth sack or wearing a disguise seem to trivialize rather than enhance the experiences that are described. Some of the projects may be used by a perceptive and sensitive teacher to spark meaningful discussion, but for the general nonfiction shelves, this is not a first purchase. Try James Haskins's "Following Freedom's Star" (Marshall Cavendish, 2001) instead." -Kathryn Kosiorek, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn, OH"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2005
Gr. 6-9. "There's two things I've got a right to, and these are, Death or Liberty--one or the other I mean to have." Harriet Tubman's passionate avowal gives an inkling of the stirring sentiments and tense drama readers will encounter in the sixteenth For Kids book, this one an engaging exploration of "the complete ways and means that slaves fled bondage." Though the designation " for "kids is misleading (the text is most accessible to motivated middle-grade and early high-school audiences)," "Carson's primary source-enriched narrative will provide motivated readers with a palpable sense of the diversity of the Railroad's participants--from fugitive slaves to free blacks to white abolitionists, many of whom are profiled in biographical sidebars. The brown-and-black color scheme is lackluster, and the cheerfully described activities (tying a bundle around a yardstick to "see for yourself if carrying a load is easier when it's hung on a stick") strike a discordant note, but Carson's vibrant presentation of inherently action-packed subject matter is reason enough for purchase.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)