Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom

With haunting pictures and a few simple sentences, Evans (Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson) introduces beginning readers to a crucial piece of American history. In darkness lit mainly by moonlight, a slave family is seen sneaking away from a plantation, passing a sleeping overseer ("We are quiet"), creeping through shrubbery, and being greeted by a woman in a skirt and cap holding a lantern high ("We make new friends"). The eyes of the slaves shine with doubt and fear. Dense groupings of figures give a sense of immediacy, and rough charcoal lines echo the rugged paths the group travels. Difficult moments are handled with restraint: "Some don't make it," one page says, as a man with a rifle holds a defeated-looking slave. The slaves press on; the dawn that breaks around them is a metaphor for freedom. A man cradles a pregnant woman ("We are almost there"), and on the next page, he holds a swaddled newborn up to the shining sun in triumph. Telling the story without overwhelming readers is a delicate task, but Evans walks the line perfectly. Ages 48. (Jan.)

Copyright 2010 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

Gr 1-3—A stellar introduction to the Underground Railroad, narrated by a group of slaves. Readers experience the fugitives' escape, their long nighttime journey punctuated by meetings with friends and enemies, and their final glorious arrival in a place of freedom. Evans boils the raw emotion of the experience down to the most compressed statements, both mirroring the minimal opportunities for expression during the secret journey and also creating a narrative that invites even the youngest listeners to visit this challenging subject. For this reason, the text may be read as is to preschool audiences, while the abbreviated prose may also generate a rich discussion for older students. Evans writes simply: "The darkness..../We are quiet./The fear./We run." Appropriately, the narration is told from a group perspective, which reflects the broader experience of enslaved African Americans—a theme continued in his full-bleed illustrations of figures cloaked in the anonymity of night. Though subdued in palette until the eruption of color as the figures reach the threshold of freedom, the author's collaged nocturnal paintings shimmer with an arresting luminescence. Two constants leap out from almost every page: the stars above and the bright, fearful eyes of the fugitives. When the travelers at last lift a newborn baby to the rising sun, readers celebrate along with the protagonists.—Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, MI

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"* The mixed-media illustrations are the main focus here, and they're luminous and haunting. The tension between dark and light visually pulses through the spreads: the whites of the escaping family's eyes gleam in cut-paper collage, the slender crescent of a moon shines overhead, and the amber glow from a window or a searcher's torch stands out with startling distinction in scenes otherwise constituted almost entirely from shadowy blues and blacks." —BCCB, starred review

"The minimal text drums like a heartbeat. From terror to triumph, a perfect evocation for very young readers of what it means to escape from bondage." —The Washington Post

"The achievement of Underground is to summon up for young readers the spirit and emotions—desperation, fear and, ultimately, celebration—of the Underground Railroad. . . . This is more a poetic invocation of slavery and freedom than a real history. Young readers will need further explanation; older readers will want it. But the triumphant smile of a father, holding a newborn aloft in the boldly yellow sunshine, requires no explaining at all." —The New York Times Book Review

"Shane W. Evans has created a book in which the emotional experience of the journey north is dominant." —Orlando Sentinel

"As the runaways move North, the sky lightens, culminating in a brilliant yellow on the book's last spread. This stunning simplicity respects the young audience and makes us want to join in with the book's closing words." —BookPage

"Evans' dark, angular pencil sketches, overlaid by shades of deep blue and green, are highly effective—and as the slaves reach safety, vibrant yellows and oranges shout the glory of freedom." —Chicago Sun-Times