Synopses & Reviews
Thirteen-year-old Michael knows he is lucky. Few slaves in 1805 Charleston are where they want to be. But Michael works on the docks and ships in Charleston Harbor, close to the seas he longs to sail. andlt;BRandgt; Life seems good. But then his protective mistress dies and Michael's world changes. His friend Jim encourages him to "steal himself"; to run. Michael is torn. andlt;BRandgt; Mama always taught him, "to get along, you go along." But Papa wanted him to be free. "You see a possibility, you take it....A fish you pull in as a free man tastes ten times sweeter than a fish you catch for a master." Now Mama and Papa are both dead, and Michael must decide alone. andlt;BRandgt; Does he dare risk everything for a chance at freedom in some unknown place? If he and Jim are caught, he will have lost everything. But if he stays -- is staying safe worth staying a slave? andlt;BRandgt; How Michael makes his decision to flee seaward to freedom is the heart of this moving and dramatic story set in an America where slavery is a way of life in the South, and the journey to freedom one of immense courage and mortal danger.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-156).
About the Author
Lea Wait graduated from Chatham College and has advanced degrees in American civilization from New York University. As a single adoptive parent raising four daughters, Wait did public relations work for a large corporation.
Now, her daughters grown, she lives on the coast of Maine, where she writes, rows on the Sheepscot River, and runs an antique print business.
"Several years ago I found a print of a young black boy looking longingly to sea as he leaned on his mop in a high arcade of Saint Michael's Church," says Wait. "That boy became Michael/Noah, and his story became Seaward Born." Noah first appeared in Wait's novel Stopping to Home, which was named a Smithsonian Notable Book of 2001 and was listed as one of the best children's books of 2001 by the Bank Street College of Education.
Wait is also the author of Shadows at the Fair: An Antique Print Mystery, written for adults.