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Elijah of Buxtonby Christopher Curtis
Awards2008 Coretta Scott King Author Award
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:It's 1860, and eleven-year-old Elijah is a first-generation freeborn child. His Canadian town of Buxton, located just across the border from Detroit, serves as a haven for runaway slaves and their children, where Blacks can live free and govern themselves away from the horrors of pre-emancipation America. When the town's corrupt preacher steals money from a citizen who's been saving to buy his family's freedom, Elijah sets off for Detroit in pursuit. He encounters a group of captured runaway slaves; unable to save them all, he escapes with the youngest--a baby--and returns to Buxton a hero. Review:"Elijah Freeman, 11, has two claims to fame. He was the first child 'born free' to former slaves in Buxton, a (real) haven established in 1849 in Canada by an American abolitionist. The rest of his celebrity, Elijah reports in his folksy vernacular, stems from a 'tragical' event. When Frederick Douglass, the 'famousest, smartest man who ever escaped from slavery,' visited Buxton, he held baby Elijah aloft, declaring him a 'shining bacon of light and hope,' tossing him up and down until the jostled baby threw up — on Douglass. The arresting historical setting and physical comedy signal classic Curtis (Bud, Not Buddy), but while Elijah's boyish voice represents the Newbery Medalist at his finest, the story unspools at so leisurely a pace that kids might easily lose interest. Readers meet Buxton's citizens, people who have known great cruelty and yet are uncommonly polite and welcoming to strangers. Humor abounds: Elijah's best friend puzzles over the phrase 'familiarity breeds contempt' and decides it's about sexual reproduction. There's a rapscallion of a villain in the Right Reverend Deacon Doctor Zephariah Connerly the Third, a smart-talking preacher no one trusts, and, after 200 pages, a riveting plot: Zephariah makes off with a fortune meant to buy a family of slaves their freedom. Curtis brings the story full-circle, demonstrating how Elijah the 'fra-gile' child has become sturdy, capable of stealing across the border in pursuit of the crooked preacher, and strong enough to withstand a confrontation with the horrors of slavery. The powerful ending is violent and unsettling, yet also manages to be uplifting. Ages 9-12." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Synopsis:Its 1860, and 11-year-old Elijah is a first-generation freeborn child. His Canadian town of Buxton serves as a haven for runaway slaves. When the towns corrupt preacher steals money from a citizen whos been saving to buy his familys freedom, Elijah sets off for America in pursuit, in this powerful new novel by a Newbery Medalist. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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