Freedom Ship [Hardcover]

Doreen Rappaport (Author), Curtis James (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

Samual and his family are born slaves.  Every day they look beyond the harbor filled with Confederate ships, to the Atlantic Ocean, where the Union ships are--and potentially, their freedom.  If only they could get to those ships somehow....Then, on May13, 1862, Samuel and his family risk it all to be free.

 

Based on a true story, Doreen Rappaport weaves a riveting tale of a boy and his family aboard the gunboat Planter. Captained by Robert Smalls and loaded with fellow slaves, the ship flees to the Union fleet to gain freedom from slavery and deliver much-needed ammunition to the Union Navy.  Rappaport's suspenseful account, illustrated with the moody paintings of Curtis James, creates a vivid and relatable picture of this little-known tale of the civil war.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6–Educators will welcome this story, based on a true incident, about slaves who commandeered a Confederate ship and sailed to freedom. A present-day boy introduces the tale, which is told from his great-great-grandfather's point of view. Robert Smalls is the real pilot of the ship, even though the captain calls him a wheelman. Smalls and the nine-member crew kidnap the Planter and carry five black women and their three children to safety by offering the steamer and its weaponry to a Union vessel. Samuel swabs the deck with the crew but does not know about the escape plan, even as his mother rouses him from sleep and hurries them noiselessly to the waiting boat. The dark colors and shadows in the realistic chalk-pastel drawings suggest the secrecy of the families' nighttime escape, while the facial features and body language express urgency. Endpapers feature reproductions of a map of the Charleston Harbor and a picture of Smalls. An author's note tells more about his subsequent military service and terms as both a South Carolina and U.S. legislator. Pair this title with Eloise Greenfield's How They Got Over: African Americans and the Call of the Sea (HarperCollins, 2003), which tells Smalls's story in a collective biography that highlights historically significant African Americans connected to the sea.–Julie R. Ranelli, Kent Island Branch Library, Stevensville, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The Civil War history is thrilling: in 1862, Robert Smalls, 23, a black wheelman on the Confederate steamship Planter, and other members of the ship's slave crew, seized the ship and delivered it to the Union Army. Five black women and three children escaped to freedom with the crew, and Rappaport uses the fictionalized viewpoint of one of the children to tell her story. Mama wakes Samuel in the night, and they row out to the Planter, which skims over the water past the Union fleet until all aboard are free. Though personal narrative gives the story immediacy, and the handsome illustrations show the strong child and his proud, smiling family standing tall, Rappaport's lengthy note about Smalls is even more exciting than the fiction. For readers who want to know more, she has provided a bibliography and list of Web sites. Link this with Pamela Duncan Edwards' Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad (1998). Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Jump At The Sun (October 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786806451
• ISBN-13: 978-0786806454
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Doreen Rappaport is known for her ground-breaking approach to multicultural history and stories for young readers. In her many award-winning books, she brings attention to not-yet-celebrated Americans, along with well-known figures.

A former teacher of music and reading, Doreen knows how to capture children's attention. Her dynamic formats engage even the most reluctant readers.

Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is an Orbis Pictus Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Book, Caldecott Honor Book for Illustration, ALA Notable Book, and is on the Blue Ribbon list of the Bulletin Center for Children's Books.

We Are The Many: A Picture Book of American Indians, introduces the accomplishments of sixteen distinguished American Indians.

Her classic Escape From Slavery presents the history of the Underground Railroad through adventure stories.

The Boston Coffee Party introduces children to a neglected event in history books and shows the active roles played by women during the Revolutionary War.