So, I decided to start my blog back up for the summer as my only goal during the holiday from school is to read. I realize that I set myself up for failure in my first entries during January for two reasons: 1) I really thought I was going to re-read a book—I didn’t. And, 2) there was no way that I was going to stop reading new books for a time in order to focus on just that one book for as long as it would take me to write about all of the sections that I laid out. Before I dive into my summer reading books, I want to write a quick summary and review of the books that I have read since January.
Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves by Adam Hochschild was a book that was loaned to me by one of the students. I’ll write about this one first because it took me almost since January to read it. By the amount of time it took me to read it, one might assume that Bury the Chains is not worth reading. I beg to differ! I learned so much about the abolition of the slave trade and ultimately slavery (though I am not naive to think that slavery is no more) that I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the topic.
Up until this point, most of my readings about the slave trade focused on William Wilberforce’s’ contribution to its demise; however, this book gave me a more well-rounded directory of contributors. The majority of the book followed Thomas Clarkson, but ample time was also spent on John Newton, Equiano, James Stephens, Wilberforce, Grandville Sharp, the Quakers, and many others.
I appreciated two things in particular about this book’s chronicle of events. First, the author made every effort to avoid bias. He heroized no one in his account. Even though all of the abolitionists participated in noble work, all had their flaws. All made their mistakes. Even though many of the abolitionists were coined by their contemporaries as “saints,” Hochschild made it clear that no one individual could be given the credit for abolition—it was a collective effort. It was a movement of, not just people like Wilberforce, who had Parliamentary power, but of society as a whole—stirred to action by innovative leaders.
Secondly, Bury the Chains gave me a global perspective of slavery during the period of mid 1500’s through the mid 1800’s. I learned about the colonies of free blacks and slaves—places like Seira Leone, Jamaica and Saint Domingue. I learned about slave uprisings and their fight for their own freedom, and I learned more about how the French Revolution paved the way for Slavery to be outlawed.
I read Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech before I offered it as one of my reading circle options this year in my class. Creech won the Newbury Medal award for her book in 1995. I have enjoyed most of the Newbury books that I have read so that gave me an indication that this would be an excellent selection for my girl classes. Furthermore, my sister-in-law told me that this was one of her favorite young adult fiction books.
What made this book a winner for me was the character development. I became the main character, Sal. I felt what she was feeling and thought her thoughts in my brain. The reader follows Sal from her beloved farmhouse in Kentucky to Elerbie, Ohio against her will. From the beginning there is mystery surrounding the whereabouts of Sal’s mother. Sal takes a car trip out west with her Gram and Gramps in order to visit her mother. On their way, Sal entertains her grandparents with the tale of her friend Phoebe Winterbottom. Throughout the novel, Sal and Phoebe’s stories unfold to reveal a couple of twists in the plot.
I won’t spoil the book, but trust me: you’ll want tissues. This is a one-sitting kind of book. Walk Two Moons was the first book that I’ve ready by Creech, and it was skillfully written. It won’t be my last. I recommend this book to anyone who is not put off by young adult fiction and who enjoys a tear jerker.
I have several more books that I have read since January, but I will save their details for another entry.
