My Home Is over Jordan: Sequel to "Sound the Jubilee" [Hardcover]

Sandra Forrester (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1997 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

To Maddie Henry, a fifteen-year-old ex-slave, the south after the Civil War is full of opportunity. But life in the North Carolina town where Maddie and her family have settled is not what they expected when they find that the white residents will use any means to drive away the Henry family. In this sequel to Sound the Jublilee, Sandra Forrester tries to answer her own questions about where the Henry family would go after they gained their freedom. She says, "The most cherished dream had come true, but the reality of freedom was harsh. If a young reader comes away from this book wondering why things haven't changed more than they have, I will be happy."

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8. Forrester picks up the story of Maddie Henry that she began in Sound the Jubilee (Lodestar, 1995). Forced to abandon the home they had made in Roanoke when the white owners returned after the Civil War ended, the Henry family is seeking land that they can farm. Their path crosses that of another small band of former slaves who tell them of a nearby town where an enlightened plantation owner is willing to sell land to Negroes. A home of their own secured, the family finds that there are still plenty of white people who are only too ready to make life difficult, if not impossible, for them. Maddie herself has much to contend with as she tries to care for a wild orphan girl, considers a marriage proposal, and attempts to earn the money that will enable her to head north to Oberlin College. Forrester writes with a sure touch, working the historical threads neatly into her story and making Maddie come alive for readers. It is not necessary to have read the previous novel to enjoy this one, but readers are apt to like the heroine so much they will want to read the earlier book as well. Other characters are not as fully developed, but they are believable as people. Smoothly written and evocative of its time, this book will find a ready audience among history lovers.?Elaine Fort Weischedel, Turner Free Library, Randolph, MA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A sequel to Sound the Jubilee (1995, not reviewed) that does not stand on its own, but which will be welcomed by readers of the first book. With the Civil War over, Maddie Henry and her family are free and hope to work their own land. But the small town of Willoughby, North Carolina, where they settle, is not exactly welcoming, and some of the young black men seem as determined to stir up trouble as the belligerent whites are. All Maddie wants is to continue her education, but she is tied down by Tibby, a mixed-race child whom she finds running wild in the woods, and to whom she becomes a sort of mother. Forrester assumes a knowledge of the characters and their relationships, and jumps right into the story without much explanation; still, readers of the earlier book will appreciate the author's willingness to allow for moral complexity: While some of the characters are either all good or all bad, neither blacks nor whites as a group are, and in the rebuilding of the South, there is blame and praise enough to go around. (Fiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1st edition (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052567568X
• ISBN-13: 978-0525675686
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,398,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The moving sequal to Sound the Jubilee., September 28, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: My Home Is over Jordan: Sequel to "Sound the Jubilee" (Hardcover)

It is 1865; the Civil War is over. 15-year-old Maddie Henry and her family are free. But freedom has cost them dearly. Maddie's beloved Papa gave his life in the war; the family must fend for themselves for the first time in their lives. Maddie and her family leave their wartime refuge on Roanoke Island and buy a farm in a rural North Carolina town. But they are not welcome; the town's bitter white residents, having lost much in the war, despise them; life is hard without Papa, and the schoolteacher to the former slaves' children is run out of town. Maddie and her family adopt Tibby, a racially mixed child whose parents were a master and a slave. Tibby gradually begins to trust again after having witnessed the fire that took her mother's life. But then Maddie is torn between Tibby and her dream to go to college in the North. Maddie can't bear to leave Tibby, knowing the sorrow it would cause the child, yet Maddie has her dreams, too. How will she choose what path to take?

4.0 out of 5 stars I Pick This Book At A School Librairy, December 15, 2003

By 

Telia Battle "Telia" (Newark NJ U.S.A) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Home Is over Jordan: Sequel to "Sound the Jubilee" (Mass Market Paperback)

I pick this out at a school librairy is tite My Home Is Over

Jordan, and is about when the civil War is over April 9, 1865.

And Maddie Henry and her family can finally begin to build a

Home of their own. But for her life in their North Carolina town

Is not easy.

4.0 out of 5 stars great historica fiction, November 21, 2001

By 

road listener (SC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Home Is over Jordan: Sequel to "Sound the Jubilee" (Mass Market Paperback)

My daughter read Sound the Jubilee (this book is the sequel to Jubilee) for required summer reading. She enjoyed that book so much, we ordered this one. She did not devour it as quickly, but still enjoyed it. Living in the South, I like for her to read books where she learns more of our illustrious (or not so illustrious)heritage.