Escape South

I've always enjoyed books about escaping from slavery, but did not expect a lot from this small and simple Road to Reading / Mile 5 book - ESCAPE SOUTH by Kim Siegelson. The book starts off with a boy named Ben, his little sister Lizzie, and his parents, all slaves on Mr. Tom's plantation. A brief background of slavery is given, with implied threats of whipping and Ben's father complaining that all their work is just making Mr. Tom richer. When Papa makes a little thumb piano for Ben's birthday, Ben marvels at it - it is the first thing that has ever belonged to him. One evening, Papa tells Ben that the four of them will be escaping later that very night. They head south, keeping the north star to their backs, and eventually come to Okefenokee Swamp. After days of miserably following the current through the huge swamp and into the Suwannee river, they eventually come to a secret settlement with a mix of Seminole Indians and escaped slaves, where they are welcomed. They begin to make a life for themselves there, but the settlement is always aware of, and prepared for, possible trouble from the outside. Papa has even agreed to become a Seminole warrior, in case of war. Eventually, war IS declared by the U.S. government, who want the Seminoles moved west and the former slaves returned to their owners. Papa goes off with the other warriors to fight the soldiers and the others head deeper into the swampy areas, staying one step ahead of the soldiers who are tracking them. After three years of war, with both sides worn down, the government agrees that the former slaves can accompany the Seminoles to be resettled in the west. Ben and his family head to Oklahoma and their permanent freedom with their brother Seminoles. Siegelson did a very impressive job with this book, based on actual events. For only 70 pages, with large print and including 10 beautiful full-page illustrations (charcoal pencil?), she packs a lot into this story. AR lists this book as RL 3.3. I also liked the repeated use of symbolism when Ben compares his family to mice and Mr. Tom and the soldiers to an owl that always wins. In the author notes, it says, "Kim Siegelson was the first winner of the Center for Multicultural Children's Literature Writing Award. In 2000, she was named the Georgia Author of the Year for Children's Literature." With this book having a copyright date of 2000, I'm wondering whether the award was for her body of work or specifically for this book? It's certainly deserving. I highly recommend this book and would rate it a 9 on a scale of 1-10.

This is an excellent book to entice adult learners to read. The story is written for children, speaking from the child's point of view, but it isn't "childish" at all, and hardly anyone knows about how many slaves escaped to Florida and joined with the Seminole Indians. I found that both American-born and immigrant adult reading students loved this book.