Freedom in Congo Square Booktalk

I want you to imagine a world in which all you did was work. You might work in the fields. You might chop logs. You might feed livestock all day. You were a slave.

Point out the overseer to your readers.

You took care of other people's things. You took care of other people's children. You were almost always watched. If you misbehaved, you'd be whipped with a lash. Do you see the overseer in this picture here? He was watching the slaves, and he's not their friend. They often lived in fear.

But there was one time when you could relax a little. On Sunday afternoons, you could meet up with other slaves in Congo Square. You could sing or dance or play music. For just a moment in time, you could forget your troubles. And this is what you lived for. Come join this amazing world of our past in Freedom in Congo Square.

Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford and R. Gregory Christie. 2016: Little Bee Books. Unpaged. Booktalk to grades 1-4. Good read-aloud.

Book talk: Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole

Have you ever felt as if you were being watched?

Our protagonist – whose name we don’t know – is a young girl who works on a farm during the time of the Civil War. She feeds the cow and the chickens, and she does daily farm chores: cleaning, gathering food, helping her family.

She has a busy but quiet life. She sees Confederate soldiers riding by on their horses one day: the war is going on, but she and her family have food and their health and one another.

But she’s being watched. When she’s alone in the shed, she can feel an eye trained on her. Whose eye is this? Who would hide behind picked corn stalks? And why is this person in her family’s shed?

There are no words in this book, but this is a powerful story called Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole.

Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole. Unpaged, wordless. Scholastic: New York, 2012. Booktalk to K-3. Would work especially well for students learning about the Civil War. 2012 New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books Selection; 2012 Parents' Choice Award for Picture Books Winner.

Unspoken: A Story From the Underground Railroad

Book talk: Underground by Shane Evans (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

For this booktalk, I’m going to ask you close your eyes and keep them shut. I want you to pretend that you’re a young African-American slave, and you and your family are trying to escape to freedom. You’re terrified. It’s dark, and you have to be absolutely silent and creep out of the master’s house and into the woods. You don’t know which is more horrifying: the journey you’re about to take, or the prospect of getting caught. The other slaves’ eyes are full of fear, and so are your parents. You don’t know where you are going, but you do know that you’ll always travel by night and you must be absolutely silent no matter what. You have to be braver than you think you can be, because now you’re part of the slaves’ underground railroad to freedom.

Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom by Shane W. Evans. Unpaged. Roaring Book Press: 2011. Booktalk to primary grades. Virginia Readers’ Choice, 2012-2013.

Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom

Strange Journey: Booktalk 2

I want to introduce you to a young slave in America in the year 1776: the time of the Revolutionary War. Her name is Isabel, an African-American girl who can read and write, but she wisely keeps this fact to herself. Isabel is 13 years, and she has a sister who is 5 years old, named Ruth. Ruth has special needs, and Isabel sees it as her job to watch out for Ruth and to protect Ruth. Ruth and Isabel are basically all alone in the world. Their mother, also a slave, died of smallpox. Their father, brought over to this country from Africa, is also dead. So the two girls are completely alone.
At one point, Isabel and Ruth had a fair owner who promised them their freedom. Unfortunately, that fair master died, and they changed hands – remember, they’re considered “property,” and got an unfair master who sold them to even worse masters. Basically, they went from the frying pan into the fire, to use a saying. The Locktons, who own them now, are pretty unkind, especially Mrs. Lockton. Before I tell you about Mrs. Lockton, I need to explain that the Locktons are Loyalists – they are on the side of the British, and they don’t want the American colonists to win the war. Back to Mrs. Lockton. She’s such a cruel master that she punishes Isabel inhumanely: she has Isabel branded with the letter “I” on her face. The pain is excruciating, and Isabel almost dies. Nowadays, we consider that a form of torture, and it’s illegal. But in those days, masters could do whatever they chose with their slaves. Luckily, Isabel survives. And also luckily for Isabel, she meets another slave, named Curzon, who becomes her best friend. He recruits her to spy for the Americans. This means spying on her masters, the cruel Locktons. But Mrs. Lockton isn’t done with Isabel. She plans to sell what Isabel holds most near and dear to her heart: Ruth, Isabel’s sister. What would you do if someone sold or tried to sell your sibling? What could you do?
Much of Isabel’s journey has to deal with courage, strength, and survival. If you’re interested in early America, and you want a great read, check out Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson.