Two Tickets to Freedom: The True Story of Ellen and William Craft, Fugitive Slaves [Paperback]

Florence B. Freedman (Author), Ezra Jack Keats (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1989

Traces the search for freedom by a black man and wife who traveled to Boston and eventually to England after their escape from slavery in Georgia.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Peter Bedrick Books (September 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872262219
• ISBN-13: 978-0872262218
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,463,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A story of real people like you and me..., March 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Two Tickets to Freedom: The True Story of Ellen and William Craft, Fugitive Slaves (Paperback)

Two Tickets to Freedom is the true story of a fugitive slave couple that travel the road to freedom in disguise -- Ellen (by all appearances white) dressed as a slave master and William posing as "his" slave. Their encounters both encourage them and cause them untold fear as they meet abolitionists and slave traders along the way. Faithful to the Lord, they trust solely in His deliverance along the way and on several occasions narrowly miss being caught and returned to slavery.

The book continues with the story of their life in the "free" states under the fugitive slave law, their contribution to the freedom movement, and their escape to England where they could be truly free. Finally, Two Tickets to Freedom tells of their return to The United States at the end of the Civil War and the reality of "freedom" in a now "free" land.

The book was a wonderful experience for me, having read The Underground Railroad by William Still. Two Tickets to Freedom tied together names, places, and events that I had previously read about in sketches. And these people were real people.

I was disappointed with the book in one way. The book promised initially to be written with careful descriptions and appropriate references, making it an easy read aloud for children with a wide range of cognitive abilities. As the book progressed, it became easier to read and flowed easily. Nearing the end, however, the words became more difficult, the concepts more difficult to understand, and the subject a bit harder to recognize. The topic of racial prejudice could have been approached more effectively had the book flowed a little more carefully at the end. And I would love to have had a bit more information about the life of Ellen and William Craft as they began again in Georgia.

Overall, I really liked the story and feel it is a valuable addition to a child's collection of books on American history.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TWO TICKETS TO FREEDOM, May 28, 2003

By 

joe (Conneticut,Bethel USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two Tickets to Freedom: The True Story of Ellen and William Craft, Fugitive Slaves (Paperback)

Joseph Bailey
Reading 03
April22, 03

Florence B. Freedman's Two Tickets to Freedom book is magnificent! It was as if she was Ellen Craft being zapped into the book as she was writing it! Ellen and William had to be on their tiptoes in alert so they could escape their slavemaster. With Ellen posing to be a white man as her slave, they escape to Boston only to find they have to go to Canada! This true story is amazing because it takes you back to 1848 in Macon, Georgia. Many people help them but when law is passed that fines anyone that helps a slave for 1000 dollars, will they make it? "Tickets for myself and my slave." Ellen says on the trip. Some people get suspicious..........

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Adventurous Book, November 28, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Two Tickets to Freedom: The True Story of Ellen and William Craft Fugitive Slaves (Library Binding)

I liked this book because you never knew what was coming next. The slavery part was a little sad, but it was at the same time cool because the story was about the escape of slaves. It has suspense because you didn't know if they would get caught or get to safety.