Customer Reviews

Trouble Don't Last

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
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In her author's notes, Shelly Pearsall states that, while the Underground Railroad is a familiar American story, the real heroes of the story, the slaves themselves, are often left in the background. She wanted to write a book that would present the harrowing flight to freedom from the slave's point-of-view. She wanted to ask, "What did they think and feel... What was the journey like? Whom did the runaways trust and whom did they fear?" She succeeded brilliantly.

She chose as her narrator a former slave named Samuel, who recounts his unwilling trek to "CANADAY" as a boy of eleven. Young Samuel was ignorant of anything beyond his experience on his master's farm. Not allowed to read by his masters and kept in his place by the two aging slaves, Lilly and Harrison, who raised him after his mother was sold. Samuel is ignorant and, consequently, fearful. When a fleeing Harrison whisks him off in the middle of the night, Samuel doesn't know what to think. Samuel sees a threat in every shadow and every step he takes is a step further away from the only life he's known. His only desire is to stay out of trouble.

In choosing the adult Samuel as her storyteller, Ms. Pearsall has created a voice that is at once educated and naive. SamuelÃ*s perception of the journey and the people he encounters is the heart of the book�most importantly, his portrayal of the crotchety, perhaps senile, old slave Harrison. The book has an almost Huckelberry Finn quality to it, mostly because of its episodic nature and the variety of "characters" the duo meet on their journey.

For better or worse, the author has toned down the language and dialect of the period keeping the words and dialog well within today's politically acceptable range. While this puts a softer edge on the events portrayed than should be, it does give the book a broader reach into our sometimes-restrictive educational system. In any event, it does not affect the overall value of this volume.

All Spectrum Home & School Magazine recommendations can be found...

I really enjoyed this book and plan to use it in my middle-school classroom next year. It seems a rarity in underground railroad fiction that the narrative is told from the slave's point of view instead of the all-too-common "benevolent white helper family." I think some of my reluctant readers will enjoy this book as the action is fast-paced and each chapter ends at a moment of suspense; students will want to keep reading to find out what happens to Samuel and Harrison, and I anticipate hearing "just one more chapter" more often than not as we read through this educational and engaging book.

I think this book is phenomenal because I felt like I was right there with Samuel, on the long and treacherous road to freedom. It made me feel very lucky to be free when I read all of the hardships the main character and his friend, Harrison, went through. If topics like the Underground Railroad interest you, then this is the fast-paced, heart-pounding book for you!

Running and hiding, running and hiding. That is only the beginning of what happens to two classic characters in the award wining novel Trouble Don't Last. This book was written by Shelley Pearsall and published by Random House Children's Books. Trouble Don't Last is on the ALA booklist and Shelley was awarded the Scott O'Dell award. Shelley's writing will captivate you right from the beginning. This is Shelley Pearsall's first book and I hope it's not her last. Every chapter is a non-stop read that will keep you full of suspense and wonder. I'm sure you will thoroughly enjoy this book.
Trouble Don't Last is a great story that teaches you about the Underground Railroad. The two main characters are Samuel who's around 11 years old and Harrison who's in his sixties. Samuel and Harrison are two hard working slaves that work for Master Hackler. One night Harrison crept near Samuel's sleeping corner in the kitchen and whisked him away on the Underground Railroad. They discovered many different people like Lucy Taylor who is convinced her husband is still alive and Green Murdock who's a clever white peddler. Once Harrison and Samuel think the end of their journey is near, Harrison gets a horrible fever that delays their trip. Will their journey be successful? Will they get caught by white patrollers or will they have to back track home to their master?
Samuel and Harrison's personalities are very, very different. They disagree a lot in the book and don't want each other's company. Samuel is very stubborn on his trip to Canada and thinks they should go home, even if it means being whipped. Luckily for Samuel, Harrison pushes him to keep going and to make wise decisions. On occasion Harrison can be just as pig headed as Samuel. These two characters rely on each other to keep going on the journey. Later you'll be just as shocked as Samuel when he finds a hidden secret about Harrison in a ball of gray yarn.
In Trouble Don't Last there is a ton of suspense and excitement. There is a code like system on the Underground Railroad. It will show you just how sneaky the railroad can be. Harrison knows many of these secrets that help them along the way. I like that Harrison had to call like an owl to get the grumpy river man to take them to the other side of the Ohio River. The suspense is so exciting it will make you hungry for more. When their master was looking for them I couldn't stop reading and I'm positive you won't stop either.
This phenomenal book is a must have for almost all readers. I recommend this book for 4th graders and up. I also recommend this book for parents that want to teach their kids about the Underground Railroad. This is one of the best black history books ever. With characters that have exceptional personalities this story will stay with you forever. Trouble Don't Last is an inspiring book that will never leave your bookshelf, ever.

This great book about Samuel and Harrison and their suspenseful journey to freedom in Canada has been awarded the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for 2003! A well-deserved award for an exiting book that readers, young and old, will love.

Originally, I picked up this book because my daughter had read it and had recommended it. Once I started reading, though, I was sucked in by the realistic characters and the suspenseful story. This is not just a book for kids. "Trouble Don't Last" was not only an exciting adventure story, but I learned quite a bit about what life must have been like for runaway slaves in the 19th century.

Like most people, I learned about slavery and the underground railroad in school, and had always felt like I had a good understanding of that period in US history. But unlike a high school textbook, this story made it easy to put myself in Samuel's place and see things from his perspective. What would it be like to grow up never having seen the world outside my master's plantation? What would it be like to be on the run, never able to truly rest, always worried about being caught?

Shelley Pearsall has written an excellent book that explores these and other issues, all the while keeping us on the edge of our seats. From beginning to end, I could never be sure what would happen next. The style in which the story is told conveys well the feeling of helplessness that so many slaves must have felt. The reality of being out of control of your own destiny, knowing that at any time your life could change for the worst and there was little or nothing you could do about it, must have been an extremely difficult problem to deal with emotionally. In the book we see the ways different characters cope with their oppression, and can't help wondering what we would do if forced to deal with a similar situation.

Anyone who wants to gain a more personal understanding of an important, unfortunate period in the history of the United States should read "Trouble Don't Last."

An excellent book to read if you enjoy histrical fiction and lots of adventure. Samuel, the 11 year old slave who runs away from the only home he has ever known was my favorite character. He was so fearful when he started the journey with Harrison, a 70 year old slave from the Kentucky plantation. However, their many adventures and narrow escapes from trouble made Samuel a much stronger person, able to cope with whatever came his way. The characters he met, the Widow Taylor, Riverman, Ham and Eggs and Green Murdock were really interesting too. I also liked the "secret" that Samuel uncovered at the end of the journey.

I had to read this book for shool (in fifth grade). So, I thought it would be boring. But it was an amazing story about an 11 year old boy Samuel and his 70 year old companion Harrison. Together they escape from being slaves to freedom up North. It was exciting and almost every chapter ended with a cliff hanger.

I suggest this book to anyone age 11 and up. It's got some hard words and many slang terms so it's kind of hard. But overall thas book was amazing!

Samuel and Harrison are slaves in Kentucky. Samuel's mother was taken away when Samuel was a baby so Harrison had to somewhat raise him. So when she left she said if she ever were to become free she would send Harrison a signal, a ball of grey yarn. So when Harrison came across a ball of grey yarn he decided to get Samuel and go to Canada to find his mother. They first went through the woods and hid in a big tree that Harrison had recondized from trying to escape with his wife and children many years before. Once they came to the Ohio River they found a man who was giving boat rides to the other side of the river. When they made it across they went to many safehouse's before coming to a town of all free African-Americans. After a couple weeks in the town Harrison became very sick but was nursed back to health. Then they had to get on a steam-engine,train, and go all the way to the boarding dock to go to Canada. On the steam-engine is where they met another escapee Ordee Lee. After they got to the dock they pretended to be workers and then someone said they were escapees and were arrested.

Trouble Don't Last is a 230 page book written by Shelly Pearsall. I would give it three and a half stars to four stars. Trouble Don't Last won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.

Trouble Don't Last is about Samuel an eleven years old boy, and a really old man named Harrison. They are both slaves. The book tells of their journey up North to freedom.

My favorite part of the book was when they were crossing the Ohio River on the River Man's raft with a woman named Hetty Scott. When she wouldn't be quiet, the slave catchers heard them and came after them. Then they pushed Hetty Scott down the river and they swam away. I liked this part because it was really funny.

This book reminds me of the book Dear Austin because both stories had dangerous journeys. The dangerous journeys are different because in Dear Austin they head down south to find something and in Trouble Don't Last they head up North to freedom.

This book made me feel angry because of the ways blacks had to do so much for freedom and whites didn't have to do anything.