My Name is Sally Little Song [Hardcover]

Brenda Woods (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Coretta Scott King Honor-winner Brenda Woods brings to life a chapter of American history that is seldom explored. Sally Harrison and her family are slaves on a plantation in Georgia. But when Master decides to sell Sally and her brother, the family escapes to seek shelter with a tribe of Seminoles who are rumored to adopt runaway slaves.

After a perilous journey, Sally and her family find the Indian village. While her father and brother easily adjust to Indian ways, Sally can’t seem to find her place—the little songs she makes up don’t fit with her new life. Will she ever let go of the past and fully join the tribe?

Reviewers praised Brenda Woods’s Red Rose Box saying: "A timeless universal tale about a young girl’s road to maturity. An impressive debut." (Kirkus Reviews.) Once again, Woods has written an evocative novel with an intriguing heroine.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6–When Pa learns that Master plans to sell five slaves, including his children, he and Mama flee into the night with Sally and Abraham. Following Joshuas star, named by Sally for the slave who alerted them to Masters plan, the family trades cotton picking for alligators, and runs from slave hunters and heartbreak before arriving in Seminole land. Woods precedes each chapter with poignant rhyming verse, presumably the songs that Sally has dreamed up to help her keep her mind. Based on historical accounts, this novel provides readers with an alternative view of the realities of slavery–an escape to the South rather than North. Woods deftly teases out both the light and the dark moments of the experience, as seen in Sallys realization that she will never be entirely free from fear whether she is known by the last name Henderson or Little Song. This accessible tale will prove a rich resource for study and discussion.–Jill Heritage Maza, Conn Elementary, Raleigh, NC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. From the age of four, Sally has worked as a slave in the cotton fields on a Georgia plantation. She is 11 in 1801 when her parents hear that she and her older brother are to be sold. The family runs away and finds shelter with the Seminole Indians in Florida. Mama dies on the journey. Along with their grief is the terrifying threat from the vicious slave hunters, but the runaways ultimately find kindness and community. True to the child's voice, the terse, first-person narrative, with a simple lyrical poem at the start of each chapter, brings close the backbreaking labor and cruelty of plantation life, then the flight to freedom, the sadness, and the hope. The action is fast, the journey fraught with danger; the details bring it home. Remembering her own childhood, Sally finds it difficult to believe that the Seminole children are free to play all day ("Ain't them little ones got no work to do?"). Some characters are idealized, but the searing historical fiction shows that there can be no sunny ending; while slavery exists in America, the family will never truly be free. Woods is the author of the Coretta Scott King Honor Book The Red Rose Box (2002). Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (September 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399243127
• ISBN-13: 978-0399243127
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,545,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting historical fiction, June 28, 2008

By 

Madigan McGillicuddy "Librarian" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Name Is Sally Little Song (Mass Market Paperback)

Eleven-year old slave Sally Henderson is faced with difficult choices as she and her family make a run for it, from Southern slavery into the Florida swamp. If they can make it to Seminole territory, her family may stand a better chance of remaining free. The story is very accessible to young readers, without shying away from some of the harsher realities of plantation life. Unfortunately, her mother does not survive an attack by alligators, but the remainder of her family manages to make it to relative safety. The Seminoles give Sally the name, "Little Song" for her habit of singing to herself to calm her nerves. While settling in to her new life, Sally must learn how to enjoy life again, even though her harrowing experiences will always stay with her. A unique perspective and a worthwhile read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MY NAME IS SALLY LITTLE SONG, July 19, 2007

By 

TRUTHSPEAKE (VIRGINIA,USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Name is Sally Little Song (Hardcover)

AN EXCELLENT READ!!! PICKED IT UP AT THE LOCAL LIBRARY TODAY IN THE "NEW ARRIVALS" SECTION. PLANNED TO READ IT IN 3 DAYS TO MY EIGHT-YEAR-OLD, READ IT ALL THE 1ST DAY. ONCE WE STARTED, WE COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN! AN INFORMATIVE PORTRAYAL OF SLAVERY WITHOUT BEING TOO GRAPHIC FOR THE YOUNGSTER. ACCOLADES TO THE AUTHOR! LOOKING FORWARD TO READING YOUR OTHER BOOKS.

5.0 out of 5 stars Needed for college class, March 22, 2009

By 

David M. Leonard (DAYTON, OH United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Name Is Sally Little Song (Mass Market Paperback)

I like paying 1/2 or less at Amazon than the bookstore for new books! (the bookkstore used are 2X as much!)