I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina 1865 (Dear America Series) [Hardcover]

Joyce Hansen (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

In this latest addition to the Dear America series, Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author Joyce Hansen presents the inspiring story of Patsy, a freed girl who becomes a great teacher.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc.; First Edition edition (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590849131
• ISBN-13: 978-0590849135
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #491,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Children's Books > History > United States > Black History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great story about a "freed" girl, October 4, 2000

By 

Melanie (Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina 1865 (Dear America Series) (Hardcover)

"I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly" was a great novel on a recently freed girl, Patsy, who lives on a plantation. She's different from the other slaves there, though - she can read and write.

Patsy stutters and walks with a limp, and because of that, everyone thinks she is dull witted. However, she certainly isn't, because she learned to read and write. Her secret is revealed, and she becomes a teacher to the children on the plantation. In the meanwhile, the other people at the plantation are leaving with newly found family, and she wonders if her family will ever come. What will happen to Patsy?

This was an excellent book on slavery for ages 10 - 14, and I'd also recommend "A Picture of Freedom", "A Wolf by the Ears", and "Letters from a Slave Girl", other books on slaves that can write.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not just the plot..., December 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina 1865 (Dear America Series) (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful book for many reasons, all of which are more complex than the basic plot. The overall theme of the story is huge: what it means - for anyone - to be free. Historically, Patsy's tale explains that once the Civil War was over, slaves didn't necessarily just walk off the plantations; they didn't always know where to go or what to do. Next, literacy is essential to and cherished by Patsy. We modern readers take it for granted that we know how to read yet it was illegal for slaves. Also, how we are given or choose our names connects with the book's theme of freedom. Patsy wants no part of her name to be associated with the misery of the Davis Plantation, so she ponders throughout the book what a suitable replacement will be. She is, after all, free to do that. Other reviewers have complained about lack of action, or a slow plot. I recommend thinking of the action as being cerebral, and in that regard it is action-packed. Joyce Hansen wrote a beautiful book.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A peek into the life of a just-freed girl., August 4, 2000

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina 1865 (Dear America Series) (Hardcover)

Now that the Civil War is over, twelve-year-old Patsy, a slave girl, is finally free. But her life has changed little. She still lives and works on her former owners' plantation in South Carolina. She is still considered inferior to white people. And she still hasn't gotten a chance to see the world beyond where she grew up. But Patsy has one thing that nearly all former slaves don't have: the ability to read and write. And so she writes in her diary, which makes up this book, of her experiences in the months following the end of the war as she teaches others and struggles with the injustices the former slaves must face. An excellant addition to the Dear America series, and a good companion to one of the other books in the series, A Picture of Freedom, which is about a slave girl right before the Civil War. You can compare the two to see what changed in six years.