Stealing South: A Story of the Underground Railroad [Hardcover]

Katherine Ayres (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2001 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

"My name is Will Spencer. I come from a little town called Atwater, Ohio, and I bought this wagon to haul goods. But lately, I’ve been hauling more people than goods."

Will Spencer’s family has always helped runaway slaves passing through their town as they travel the Underground Railroad. But Will is ready to leave Atwater, Ohio, and start a life of his own as a peddler seeking his fortune. When a runaway slave asks Will to help steal his older brother out of the South to keep him from being sold into the hard life of the cotton fields, Will amends his plan and begins an adventure that will take him into the heart of slavery’s evil.

As he makes his way from Ohio to Kentucky, Will discovers that people are not always what they seem and that it’s not always easy to tell right from wrong. After all, according to the law, stealing slaves is just as bad as robbing a man’s house. Does that mean Will Spencer is a common thief? Or is he a young man doing what’s right?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-Will Spencer, 16, leaves his family's farm in Atwater, OH, to become a peddler. While on one last outing as an Underground Railroad helper, he promises Noah, a runaway slave, that he will go into Kentucky and rescue the boy's brother and sister from their owner. As Will travels south, he encounters kind and generous people who own slaves and finds himself questioning the morality of what he is doing. He knows slavery is wrong, but he feels uncomfortable gaining the trust of people and then stealing from them. His hand is forced when he unwittingly agrees to carry cargo for another man-six young boys and an elderly woman, Miss Delight-to a slave market. In the end, this agreement provides the means to escape, and Will carries them all, including Noah's sister, toward freedom. Ayres has penned an engrossing story filled with realistic characters and situations. Will's desire to leave the farm and travel, coupled with his hotheadedness and his confusion about what action to take, comes across as completely believable. The other characters are equally realistic, from Miss Delight's calmness in telling Will not to be so polite to her in front of others, to Noah's sister's indecision about escaping while still uncertain of her other brother's whereabouts. The author also touches on the fact that some slave owners used their female slaves as breeders of babies to sell. Readers will not be disappointed in this page-turner.

Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. For years Will and his family have been part of the Underground Railroad, sheltering and transporting escaped slaves through Ohio. At the age of 16, he finds himself promising to rescue the brother and sister of one of those runaways from a Kentucky plantation. Fitted out as a peddler, Will meets many folks along his journey, explores personal and philosophical dilemmas, and makes some discoveries about himself as well as others. This sequel to Ayres' North by Night (1998), which featured Will's sister Lucy, combines historical research and moral reflection with action, culminating in an exciting escape from the slave hunters and their hounds. Libraries that own the previous book will want this, and even children who have not read North by Night will enjoy the story. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 201 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (May 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038572912X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385729123
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,516,573 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 Mega Krunk review of Stealing South, May 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Stealing South: A Story of the Underground Railroad (Paperback)

This is a book about a boy of about 18 from the state of Ohio. His family runs a part of the Underground Railroad, so they are very used to running slaves up to Canada. He wants to go down south to be a peddler, when he is given a mission to help these black slaves on a plantation in Kentucky. So he becomes a peddler with a special wagon capable of carrying slaves. So he goes down South and makes friends with the slave owner, and ends up stealing the slaves from him. And this is the story of this boy and his life before the civil war.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Runaway Slave, April 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Stealing South: A Story of the Underground Railroad (Hardcover)

This story is called STEALING SOUTH : A Story Of The Underground Railroad by Katherian Ayers. The underground railroad is people that help others escape from slavery. I think you would like this book if you like stories about slavery and freeing slaves. This book has 201 pages. In the beginning of the book, Will and his brother Tom are helping Noah, a slave, escape to freedom. Tom dumped bacon grease on his shoe to confuse the slave hunter's dogs. In the story they help get slaves free by sneaking them out. If you want to know more about this book I think you should read it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Stealing South, April 1, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Stealing South: A Story of the Underground Railroad (Hardcover)

I think that Stealing South is a great book. It's about a teenage boy named Will who lives in Atwater, Ohio. He's going through Cincinnati and Kentucky to get to Canada to help Noah, a slave, escape to freedom. Noah wants Will to rescue both his brother James and his sister Susan, too. On the way Will meets a girl named Elisa and wants her to come with him to help the slaves escape. Will has them float down the river with ropes tied to their waists and a barrel at the other end to help them float. Another problem that Will runs into is some slave hunters go on the wagon set it on fire. If you want to know if they resue Noah's brother and his sister successfully, you should read Stealing South