Elijah is growing up in the Canadian community of freed and runaway slaves just prior to the U.S. Civil War. He is the first free child born in the community and has a story about that and nearly everything that has happened to his town, his neighbors, and himself. He is also greatly afraid of snakes, but he will tell you all about that right off the bat.
This book isn't all laughs, though. On its deeper level, it's about freedom and slavery, good people who risk their lives and those who risk others' lives for their own.
I promise you when you crack open the book, you won't be able to put it down. And you'll want to step into the book and shake hands with Elijah. This is historical fiction at its very best. Oh yeah, and it won the Newbery Honor in 2008.
* Warning: Do not read at the gym while on the tred-mill or you will laugh yourself right off of it and land on your fanny.
4 comments:
I love (almost) everything Christopher Paul Curtis writes--always a great voice, always funny, and often with a tear-jerker ending. I'm not sure he'll ever top Watsons in my eyes, but Elijah was very good, especially the snake in the basket scene.
I agree with everything you said, except the "cry a little" part. I wept like a baby at the end.
Paul and Jacqui, I'm so glad someone else read this book! I read the Watsons a very long time ago...need to reread it.
Oh this sounds so good. I'm a huge fan of Bud Not Buddy. I cracked up at the image of you falling off the treadmill. People falling make me giggle. Does that make me a bad person?
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