Escape from Slavery: Five Journeys to Freedom

by Doreen Rappaport (Author) Charles Lilly (Illustrator)

Escape from Slavery: Five Journeys to Freedom
Reading Level: 4th – 5th Grade

Freedom!

Eliza and her baby, running across the ice. Selena and Cornelia Jackson, masquerading as boys. Henry Box Brown, shipping himself north in a wooden crate. Jane Johnson, risking everything to testify against her former owner in court. Ellen Craft, posing as her husband's owner.

Escaping from slavery against overwhelming odds, these people were helped by courage, ingenuity, and the informal network known as the Underground Railroad. Here are their gripping stories, told by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Charles Lilly, and accompanied by information about slave laws of the era, key Underground Railroad leaders, and a bibliography.

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Publishers Weekly

In a starred review, PW praised this "concisely wrought volume"; five 18th- and 19th-century slaves attain freedom in these "inherently suspenseful accounts." Ages 9-12. (Jan.)
Doreen Rappaport
Doreen Rappaport has written numerous award-winning books for children, including Freedom Ship and The School Is Not White (both illustrated by Curtis James); Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Caldecott Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Honor Book illustrated by Bryan Collier; and John's Secret Dreams: The Life of John Lennon, also illustrated by Bryan Collier.

Kadir Nelson is the illustrator of many books for children, including Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, an NAACP Image Award winner, a Caldecott Honor Book, and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner; Ellington Was Not a Street by Ntozake Shange, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner; Please, Baby, Please and Please, Puppy, Please, by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee; and Will Smith's Just the Two of Us, also an NAACP Image Award winner. He is also the author/illustrator of We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9780064461696
Lexile Measure
750L
Guided Reading Level
Q
Publisher
HarperCollins
Publication date
December 19, 1998
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF018010 - Juvenile Nonfiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
JNF025200 - Juvenile Nonfiction | History | United States/19th Century
JNF053140 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Social Topics | Prejudice & Racism
Library of Congress categories
African Americans
United States
Underground Railroad
Fugitive slaves
Black-Eyed Susan Award
Nominee 1993 - 1994

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