Shocking words that December night in 1806. This sheltered child servant is finally being made to face reality and to learn the full story of her ancestors' long enslavement in the old Warren mansion in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. That handsome brick mansion which she has always adored, its seemingly benign white owners and even the town of Portsmouth are changed in her mind forever.

In part, Child Out of Place is about this girl's struggle to hang on to her dreams, to keep believing, despite her grandmother and great uncle's discouragements, that a better, happier life is possible for her.

But, this story also reveals some of a mostly hidden chapter in the history of slavery in America — the New England chapter. Far more than just a fictional story, Child Out of Place is an important story. Middle school students as well as adults will discover a different view of that tragic era; one seldom, if ever, mentioned in schoolbooks.