Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
by Sam Arnold-Boyd on May.30, 2009, under Coretta Scott King, Historical Fiction, Horror, Newbery, Sam's Reviews, YRCA
Who would like this book? Anyone aged 9 and up who has an interest in a community in Canada for former slaves during the mid 1800s. It’s also a perfect book for anyone who has read and liked other books by Christopher Paul Curtis or if you like books that will make you laugh and cry.
Why? Elijah is known in Buxton as the first baby born in this Canadian settlement founded in 1849 for former slaves. (He is also locally famous for an incident involving Frederick Douglas.) Elijah narates the story with humor, honesty, and empathy. Christopher Paul Curtis uses Elijah’s dialect, making this book a great choice for a read aloud. In the first chapters, Elijah tells funny, meaningful stories about his family and the Buxton community, including their tradition of welcoming new runaway slaves to their settlement. Elijah also shares about a raucous adventure to a traveling circus with the preacher, a man of questionable character. When this preacher is too eager to help one of the Buxton neighbors to buy his family out of slavery, we have been amply forewarned to brace for the worse. Through the series of subsequent events, the horrors of slavery are made clear. Elijah’s discovery of what his parents had experienced as runaway slaves is powerful and moving. This book deserves its many awards: Newberry Honor 2008, Coretta Scott King Award 2008, and a Young Reader’s Choice Nominee for 2010 in the Junior Division.
The details: 352 p. 2007 Review by Samrarian
