Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"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.

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.

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.

Not only is 12-year-old Patsy a slave, but she's also one of the least important slaves, since she stutters and walks with a limp. So when the war ends and she's given her freedom, Patsy is naturally curious and afraid of what her future will hold.

Although she and the others are technically free to do as they choose, their former owners are reluctant to do that. So, as long as they remain on the plantation, they all know their lives won't be any different.

With that in mind, the slaves slowly begin to leave -- seeking long-lost relatives, or starting over in a brand-new place. Patsy, who arrived on the plantation with a group of men as a toddler, has no idea who her parents are. With a sick feeling in her heart, she enviously watches other families reunite, knowing that no one will come for her.

Even so, Patsy's too busy to feel sorry for herself long. Now that slavery's ended, she and the others are free to learn, and they're eager to get a school established on the grounds. But problems with securing a teacher force Patsy to reveal her secret -- some time ago, she learned to read and write. Soon, Patsy is enjoying a newfound importance as her fellow ex-slaves depend upon her, affectionately calling her "Little Teacher" -- and helping her gain the confidence to embark on a new life of her own.

This book is an excellent way to get anyone, from children Patsy's age to adulthood, to understand just what freed slaves endured as they struggled to make the huge transition from captivity to independence.

This book is one of the best in the entire series in my opinion. The story takes place just after the Civil War on a plantation, and though the negros on the place expected life to change, it hasn't changed at all.

One of the things that make this story one of the best is Patsy herself. Instead of giving her a perfect life, the author gave her anything but that. Patsy hobbles, one of her legs is shorter than the other, she stutters and stammers, and because of this, everyone presumes that she is stupid. She is anything but. She also longs for a family, but doesn't even know who her parents were.

This is an outstanding story, one of the things that make this story good, once again is the heroine. Patsy is perhaps one of the best characters written. This is one of the best of the "Dear America" series.

The moment I started reading that book, I couldn't put it down! It was AMAZING! It's about a girl named Patsy living in the Reconstrustion era. As many of the other slaves leave, who are now freed, she wonders about her life and if she should leave her plantation life. She learns a lot about herself and life in general. But I won't give away the ending... :-X I recommend it to all!!!!!!

How would you feel if you were a slave, doing always orders that you cant chose to say if you want to do it or not? In this story called I Thought My Soul Will Fly and Rise written by the author Joyce Hansen that was Patsys case. She could+nt say, Yes Ill do this or no I dont want to do that. She had to do it if she wanted to or not. The genre of this book is historical fiction. That means this story could have happened in the past and all of the things the little girl passed through happened to a lot of people her age a long time ago.
Patsy and all the slaves didnt get a lot of opportunities we now have and that some of us dont care about. For example they didnt get to go to school, learn how to read or write. Today we go to school and learn how to read and write. A lot of us dont care about school but I know if the slaves had the same opportunities as we do they wouldnt waste them. Thanks to this book I learned not to waste all my opportunities that I have now because a lot of people 100 years ago didnt have them but I know they would have loved to have them. Now whenever I have an opportunity Im going to take the chance and never let it go because probably this opportunity will come once in a lifetime, we never know.

I really thought this was a great book. I liked the way that it portrayed the life of Patsy in a diary type way. The story is about a slave girl named Patsy who knows how to read. She learned by listening to the children in the house during thier lessons. When the slaves where freed, they were promised that a teacher would come to the plantation to teach the children as well as the adults to read and write. When there was trouble with getting a teacher, Patsy decided to teach the childern and who ever else wanted to be taught their abc's and how to write them. She discovered that she was a good teacher and when she finally left the plantation she went to school and became a teacher herself. I think this is a very good book to have children read so they can get a feel of what it was like in the times of slavery and right after they were freed.

I am extremely disappointed with some of these reviews! Boring, No plot, they say. Have you even glanced at any other Dear America book? They are all diaries of girls living with complications in their lives. This is a great book depicting what a preteen slave girl named Patsy does about her special talent to read and write. It perfectly describes each character from Patsy's point of view and some character traits she may not be able to tell, well C'est La Vie. That's life! I think this is a perfect account of her life with facts and opinions and a great epilouge. (Which some of you guys must have skipped.) This is the best Dear America book ever!

I noticed a previous comment regarding this book - specifically that it is "boring." I think this aptly illustrates life as a slave. Doing the same thing day in and day out for years WOULD be boring. Which could be part of the reason Patsy is so determined to learn how to read. The excitement is subtle- there is fear of getting caught reading or writing, fear of the beating that would result from getting caught,the suspense of wondering if her parents would arrive to take her away, and her budding feelings for Douglass. The author did a good job of relaying the facts.