The Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History [Mass Market Paperback]

Julius Lester (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Meet Rambler, a runaway slave roaming the countryside with a guitar, who knows the only way to stay free is to keep moving. Louis is another runaway, fleeing the plantation where he was raised, because he is about to be sold. And Jake and Mandy's marriage is damaged by slavery—and destroyed by freedom. Here is the African-American experience, brought alive by a master storyteller.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140389814
• ISBN-13: 978-0140389814
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,082,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in 1939, Julius Lester spent his youth in the Midwest and the South and received a B.A. in English from Fisk University in 1960.Since 1968 he has published 25 books of fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and poetry. Among the awards these books have received are the Newbery Honor Medal, American Library Association Notable Book, National Jewish Book Award Finalist, The New York Times Outstanding Book, National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Caldecott Honor Book, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and a National Book Award Finalist. His books have been translated into eight languages.He has published more than one hundred essays and reviews in such publications The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Op-Ed Page, The Boston Globe, The Village Voice, The New Republic, Katallagete, Moment, Forward, and Dissent.He has recorded two albums of original songs, hosted and produced a radio show on WBAI-FM in New York City for eight years, and hosted a live television show on WNET in New York for two years. A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, his photographs of that movement are included in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution and are part of the permanent photographic collection at Howard University.After teaching at the New School for Social Research for two years, Mr. Lester joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst in 1971 where he is presently a full professor in the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Department, and adjunct professor in the English and History departments. He also serves as lay religious leader of Beth El Synagogue in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.He has been awarded all four of the university's most prestigious faculty awards: The Distinguished Teacher's Award; the Faculty Fellowship Award for Distinguished Research and Scholarship; Distinguished Faculty Lecturer; and recipient of the Chancellor's Medal, the University's highest honor. In 1986 the Council for Advancement and Support of Education selected him as the Massachusetts State Professor of the Year.Mr. Lester's biography has appeared in Who's Who In America since 1970. He has given lectures and papers at more than 100 colleges and universities.His most recent books are John Henry, And All Our Wounds Forgiven, a novel about the civil rights movement, and Othello, a novel based on the Shakespeare play.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Long Journey Home, December 13, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History (Mass Market Paperback)

Long journey home is a very intresting book. Reading about African American Slavery in history books doesnt have the impact that reading these simple stories have. Here I am actually reading about the experience of real people.

I find the stories so intresting I did not want to stop to have my supper. If you knew me you will know that does not happen too often.

As a young person living in England, I recommend it highly not just to other people of colour like myself, but to anyone who likes a well written story. The stories are sad and happy and they make you think about life, and to be glad that the world has become a more understanding and place.

Winston (London)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Seeking Freedom--Humanity's Birthright, January 20, 2004

By 

Plume45 "kitka12345" (Westchester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History (Mass Market Paperback)

Julius Lester has written 6 stories about the Black struggle for personal and political freedom--an innate desire in all mankind.
His style is direct and engaging; readers immediately understand and sympathize with the motivation and emotions of the various protagonists, suffering their setbacks and sharing their dreams.
Highly readable this anthology presents a diverse group of settings and eras, all bound together by the natural wish for freedom of movement and the search for personal dignity.

SATAN ON MY TRACK is party biographical, the story of a blues guitar player, who rides the rails and refuses to put down roots.
LOUIS is also biographical, detailing the events of escape via the Road--the Underground Railroad, that is. BEN explores the difficult relations between races when slaves are raised almost as one of the family. The narrator, surprisingly, is a personable and fair white man, who may have to choose between an abhorent institution and the woman who is his heart's desire.

THE MAN WHO WAS A HORSE describes the quiet patience of a Black cowboy, who actually brought in an entire herd of wild mustang singlehandedly. WHEN FREEDOM CAME studies the fate of the suddenly emancipated slaves and how they handled this unknown
social condition. LONG JOURNEY HOME is as patchwork of diverse
facts about slavery, recounted by an unnamed narrator to his young grandchildren, who are skeptical about tales of the old slave days. The ending is based on an actual account of a mass escape attempt. The ensemble effect will cause readers to marvel at the tenacity of one race to be free, and the audacity of another race to treat human beings as mere property. Lester has interwoven Literature, History and Morality in one slender volume, for all ages.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting reading!, March 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read a lot of slave narratives over the years and, like the first reviewer, found these very compelling. I wanted to know what happened to the characters after "the end" and didn't want the stories to stop. I'll be reading more work by this writer.