The African Slave Trade (Watts Library) [Paperback]

Shirlee Petkin Newman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-Balanced introductory titles. Greene examines the rise and spread of slavery and the daily lives and work of slaves. Separate chapters discuss Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria, Egypt, and Hebrew societies. Slave Trade describes the history of slavery in Africa, the involvement first of European countries in the slave trade, and later, the Americas and South Africa. The living conditions and treatment of slaves are emphasized. The straightforward, factual text does not gloss over the brutality of this institution. Both books include many black-and-white and full-color reproductions, paintings, and photographs of sites and artifacts. Sidebars with pastel backgrounds and occasional illustrations present additional information. Both books include an author's note on sources that provides insight into the research process. James Haskins's Bound for America (Lothrop, 1999) covers much of the same material as Slave Trade in a more appealing format with stunning illustrations by Floyd Cooper.
Eunice Weech, M. L. King Elementary School, Urbana, IL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

From Booklist

Reviewed with Shirlee P. Newman's Child Slavery in Modern Times.

Gr. 4-7. Two titles in the Watts Library: History of Slavery series confront the horrifying facts of slavery, past and present. African Slave Trade discusses the devastation of the European slave trade and also the centuries of slave trading by African conquerors and Arab merchants. It ends with the struggle for freedom and the permanent loss to Africa of millions of its people. The book on child slavery is a call to arms, and Newman tells readers whom to contact to change things. The full-color photos of child hard labor are heartbreaking, especially when the captions point out that they were taken here and now. For both subjects there are other more detailed personal and historical accounts, and Newman draws on several of them, including Julius Lester's From Slave Ship to Freedom Road (1998) and Jane Springer's Listen to Us: The World of Working Children (1997). It's also good to have this general outline to introduce middle-graders to the subject. A time line, a glossary, a bibliography, lists of organizations to contact, and Internet sites are included. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 63 pages
• Publisher: Franklin Watts (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 053116537X
• ISBN-13: 978-0531165379
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,630,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > History & Historical Fiction > Africa
  • #96 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > History > Africa

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