Customer Reviews

Bound for the North Star: True Stories of Fugitive Slaves

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...the underground railroad.

While this book is obviously aimed for the "young adult" crowd, it would serve as an excellent primer for ANYONE interested in learning more about that sad, sad topic in America's history: slavery.

The author includes 12 stories about slaves who escaped north, mostly with the help of the Underground Railroad. Each story describes a different type of escape or incident - varying from the case of Solomon Northrup - a free black man who was drugged and sold into slavery while he was working in Washington, D.C. to John "Fed" Brown, a field slave who travelled a roundabout trip to freedom covering thousands of miles to John Price - an escaped slave who was captured in Ohio, but was eventually freed thanks to the near-riot of the Oberlin College community. The book ends up with the most famous member of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, and details a number of her exploits as a Conductor and as a Union Spy during the Civil War.

As a reader, I appreciated the variety of types of escape stories - it did not get stale reading about the same type of escape and the variety of escape plans really was a wonderful testament to human creativity in the face of hardship.

This is a collection of stories told by and about the black slaves who escaped to freedom via the underground railroad in America. Many are first-person accounts, all of them are full of action and emotion. The heartbreak of slavery, the inustice, and the brutality all come through.

This book is perfect for students needing primary sources for studying the underground railroad.Very mature 7th or 8th graders could handle the violence; parents should be aware. Certainly this book would be great for an AP American History class, but in my opinion, it also works as literature for the value of the narration.

12 exciting escapes. Lots of photos accompany the stories.

I had wanted to include this book in my home library for some time and finally purchased it prior to beginning a unit for Black History Month. Although the reading level is above most of my elementary students they love hearing the stories paraphrased. Great illustrations, most contemporary, as well.

I would strongly recommend this book to people who are either learning about slavery or really interesting in slavery and what the slaves had to go through. The book is about Harriet Tubman, an underground railroad conductor, who led more than three hundred men, women, and children out of slavery. Some slave owners even offered $40,000 for her head. The purpose of this book is to inform others about slavery and what the slaves had to go through while they were in slavery. Some kids think that they're in slave and their parents are their masters, but this book tells you the extreme conditions that the slaves had to go through. Kids these days don't go through near as extreme conditions as the slaves back then.
Allison K.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy nonfiction and like to read about slavery. Then if you don't like slaverythen I wouldn't recommend this book to you. The purpose of the book is to inform you of what fugitive slaves had to go through during the time of slavery. The summary of theis book is: Slaves were sold off to people for little money at all. After a while they tried to run away. After a while some of then were allowed to leave because of some reasons wether it be because of family matters or just their owners allowed then to leave.
Kelly M.