5,000 Miles to Freedom: Ellen and William Craft's Flight from Slavery

At what point did the National Geographic press for children just decide to whop the competition upside the head and produce book after book after book of fairly fabulous non-fiction like some kind o' history creatin' machine? I was willing to turn a blind eye the first two or three times this year they cranked out marvelous material, but after reading "5,000 Miles To Freedom", I can keep silent no longer. Written by the Fradins, Judith & Dennis respectively, the book is riveting. Mr. Fradin has, on his own, written "almost 150 books" of which I have read zippo. Zilch. Nuthin'. To what, then, do we owe this truly exciting tale of escape, villains, heroism, and more than a touch of cross-dressing? Truly the stars were in alignment when all parties involved decided to work upon this title. Relegated from my "I Don't Want To Read This Book Because I Suspect That It Is Good For Me" pile to my "I Love This Book and You Can Read It After You've Pried It From My Cold Dead Hands" pile, this is the story to hand to kids if you want to inform them about the Underground Railroad and slavery in a manner that is both factual and fascinating. A non-fiction must read, to say the least. Their story is incredible precisely because it is true. On the morning of December 21, 1848, Ellen and William Craft escaped as slaves from a plantation in Macon, Georgia. Their plan was an original one. Ellen, light-skinned, disguised herself as a young gentleman slave owner. William, darker, was her "slave". Together the two were going to go from Macon to the Altantic coast. From there they would travel, sometimes by boat and sometimes by train to the North. The book follows the two every step of the way, including many of the close calls the two had to suffer. Even when they planted their feet on the New England soil, however, their lives were not at peace. They were heroes for their actions amongst the abolitionists and famous for their cleverness. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, however, there was always the danger of their being recaptured and forced to return. Only living in England, 5,000 miles from Macon, would allow the two to live in relative freedom on their own. This is the story of a couple who would stop at nothing to do what they wanted, whether or not it was what slaveholders or abolitionists had planned for them. It's a tale about an escape and return and all that those two things would come to entail. What keeps this book pumping is just how exciting it all is! I never expected when I picked up, "5,000 Miles To Freedom" that what I had on my hands was a truly amazing thriller. Sure, the Crafts' initial escape is intense. But does it stop when they reach the North? Oh no, sir. They are tracked and hunted and must flee time and time again. It must have been truly awful for them but in terms of writing a book, it creates just the right amount of momentum. Though everything you may find here is based on fact, the excit