Customer Reviews

Child Out of Place: A Story of New England

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Ms. Wall does a beautiful job of sharing a piece of our American history in a way that draws you in and makes you feel like you are a part of it all.
I found this to be a wonderful story and a gentler way of introducing my daughter to the horrible subject of slavery. Somehow she makes it easier for a child to understand and yet does not sugar coat the facts.
This book has earned a place on my shelf with other classics like Catcher in the Rye and Tom Sawyer. Thank you Ms. Wall for this wonderful book. We look forward to the next one.

We had the pleasure of meeting Ms Wall at our school when she came to do a reading of her book for us. It was a great tale with acurate historical events and places in NH. And the story was told in a way that the children actually got to "feel" what it was like to live in Matty's day and time, as well as the pressure of her circumstances of racial issues for that time.
I would Highly reccommend this book for older kids, as a great way to open up conversations about different things.

The story is a look into a part of the American slavery experience that is rarely talked about: the servitude of Africans in Northern States. Though her family was provided with freedom papers while she was a young girl, the story goes on to describe the implied slavery due to the fear of slave kidnapers as well as the caste-like system between blacks and whites in New England.

The author's intent, it seems, is to provide a book that can be easily read by fourth and fifth graders to provide them with a child's perspective of slavery and implied indenture of Africans in the early history of America. Using the 10-year old Matty to express her fear and hopes helps young readers to more easily identify with her situation, and this part of pre Civil War slavery history.

This book is a very well done introduction to the topic of slavery in the North, and provides an ideal framework for upper elementary and middle school teachers to facilitate discussion about slavery, freedom, hope and the perseverance of family dreams. It gives a voice to the many untold stories of slavery in New England. Patricia Wall also provides some nice resources and sources to allow readers to explore this topic a bit deeper. Being only 101 pages with medium size text, children from ages 8 to 12 should be able to read this book in one to three sittings.

James Ward, Author of Wealth Virtues