Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
JUMP SHIP-GREAT BOOK, June 7, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Jump Ship to Freedom (Arabus Family Saga) (Paperback)
I think that this book is great for all ages. My fifth grade class read this book together and it inspired many conversations. This book was a fun and interesting way to learn about what was happening during the revolution. This is just one of the books in this trilogy. The detail in this book was amazing! I found this book a great pleasure and I don't think any minute reading this was a waste of time!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
SEEDS OF THE CIVIL WAR, May 17, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Jump Ship to Freedom (Arabus Family Saga) (Paperback)
Jump Ship to Freedom is Volume 2 of the Arabus Family History. I have not read the first volume, about his father who was paid by his owner to serve in his stead during the American Revolution. How he helped General Washington or earned the respect of many white men and a certain fame among Blacks. But this book stands on its own merit. Fourteen-year-old Daniel Arabus and his mother are slaves in Connecticut, the property of Captain Ivers. Their secret dream is to buy their freedom with the soldiers' notes (military scrip) which Daniel's father had earned for his war service. That is, if there ever is a federal government which will honor those notes. Daniel is obsessed with obtaining those notes for the future--his owners virtually stole them from his mother. So he concocts a clever plan to steal them back, but sets in motion a chain of events which threatens to take him by ship to be sold down in the West Indies' cane fields--a kind of liviing hell. He must use his wits and his courage, plus call his father's memory to mind in order to combat his harsh master, a string of bad luck and his own poor judgment. But he remains true to the way his brave father would want him to behave--even honoring a promise to a man on his deathbed, despite his natural desire to save his own neck. Daniel becomes the unwilling messenger for a major political issue as the delegates meet in Philadelphia to write our honored but much-maligned Constitution. A scrappy youth proves his integrity and true grit--honoring his father's memory--as he meets some famous men in post Revolutionary history. An exciting book which will captivate the reader while teaching about our American past.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Collin's Review, April 29, 2003
A Kid's Review
Jump Ship to Freedom Daniel Arabus raced across the dock with Big Tom a hairsbreadth behind him. He had to make it to Samuels Tavern, he just had to. If Big Tom caught him he would be brought back to Captain Ivers, tied to the Junius Bruntus mainmast (which was Captain Ivers ship), whipped, and sold to the Cane Fields in the South. Big Tom grabbed Daniels shirt, and Daniel knew he had only one choicehe jumped into the water. Would he make it, or would Big Tom catch him? Hi... I just read Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. Daniel Arabus was a 14 year-old slave for a horrible master named Captain Ivers. Captain Ivers takes Daniel on the Junius Bruntus (which is something Daniel has always to do), but taking Daniel on the Junius Bruntus is a trick! Captain Ivers really is taking Daniel to the South to be sold to the Cane Fields instead of New York, where Daniel thought they were going! Will Daniel escape, or will Captain Ivers sell him to the Cane Fields? I feel Im sort of like Daniel in a way (but thankfully, Im not a slave!) because Im courageous, strong-willed, and a little stubborn! I strongly liked this book because it didnt have much cursing, was pretty interesting, and had some old history in it. My favorite part in Jump Ship to Freedom was when Daniel made a small fire in Captain Ivers quarters and ran out of the room screaming that there was a huge fire and jumped of the Junius Bruntus to the New York harbor. One important thing this book lacked though was humor. Ive only read two or three parts that were funny. I think that Jump Ship to Freedom is for 4-6 grade readers because its a long read, has mild violence, and blood. Daniel was traveling with an elderly Quaker when he saw it. The Quaker needed a doctor badly and Daniel went into a Tavern to get one, and when he talked to the keeper to ask for a doctor he noticed a man hammering a poster to the wall. Daniel looked closer, and he saw it was a wanted posterof him! Captain Ivers was onto him. Daniel started to run up the stairs
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