eljah

HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK REVIEW

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Curtis, Christopher Paul. 2007. ELIJAH OF BUXTON. Scholastic Press. New York, NY. ISBN 9780439023443

2. PLOT
Christopher Curtis puts the reader in suspense, stress and sadness when he puts an eleven-year-old Black young boy out of his comfort zone of Buxton, Canada, a city founded by the arrival of slaves. Elijah goes from a worry free life to finding slaves in a barn in Detroit. This young scary and “fra-gile” boy was struck with the full blown reality of slavery. This happens when he goes to Detroit with Mr. Leroy is looking for the preacher that stole Mr. Leroy’s money to buy Mr. Leroy’s family out of slavery. The reader is completely at awe about how the author developed a scary eleven-year-old youth. He takes the character out of his known lifestylr in Baxton into Detroit to face the risk to be capture into slavery and never see his family again. Buxton, Canada has the reputation of welcoming and helping slaves to make it in to their town by rescuing them in the woods prior to entering town. Wow! This historical fiction story is one of finding the courage within us to do the right thing, just as Elijah finds the courage to go back to the barn where the slaves are for Ms. Chloe’s baby girl and takes her in to free territory where the Liberty Bell will ring because of the arrival of one more life to live free.


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Christopher Curtis Newbery Honor Book Award crafts the historical fiction story by creating a solid setting in Buxton Canada where slaves that had escaped slavery had come to Buxton to live as free. The story is told by the first person point of view from Elijah an 11- year- old. He seems to be popular amongst friends because he is the first Black person to be born free. The author develops the character by what others think, and say about him. He is depicted as one who is scared of anything such as “rope shaped cookies.” However the characters actions contradict what others think about him. This is a character that one wants to get close because he is funny, witty, and has courage to do what is right. Elijah put himself in danger by crossing the Canada border in to Detroit and to risk being captured as a slave. He discovers slaves in a barn. He leaves the barn, slaves, and a baby girl behind. He puts himself at greater risk by going back for the baby and takes her to free territory founded by slaves that had escaped. Christopher Curtis protagonist builds suspense and emotion in the way he develops the character and tying this to history.
It is obvious that the author spent a great deal of time researching prior to writing this book. He spends lots of time talking about the setting where the character and its citizens live. I enjoy the way he creates this closed neat community who rings the Liberty Bell anytime a slave comes to their slave free territory created by their ancestors. However, it is amazing and brilliant the way he develops the protagonist Elijah.
This is literature that needs to be brought in the classrooms to show students that they can overcome difficult challenges. Students must find the courage inside them to do the right thing in their lives. This novel can be taught in a way of a timeline to unite, show, compare and contrast the past in the lives of slaves to know.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
RSchool Library Journal: Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman has two claims to fame: he was the first free black to have been born in Buxton, an actual settlement in Canada established in 1849 by the abolitionist Reverend William King; and, during his infancy, he threw up all over the visiting Frederick Douglass. Elijah is an engaging protagonist, and whether he is completing his chores or lamenting his Latin studies or experiencing his first traveling carnival, his descriptions are full of charm and wonder. Although his colloquial language may prove challenging for some readers, it brings an authenticity and richness to the story that is well worth the extra effort that it might require. While some of the neighbors believe Elijah to be rather simple, and even his mother tends to overprotect her "fra-gile" boy, his true character shines out when a disaster occurs in the close community. Elijah's neighbor, Mr. Leroy, has been saving money for years to buy freedom for his wife and children who are still in the U.S. When this money is stolen, Elijah blames himself for inadvertently helping the thief and, risking capture by slave catchers, crosses the border into Detroit to get it back. His guileless recounting of the people he meets and the horrors he sees will allow readers to understand the dangers of the Underground Railroad without being overwhelmed by them. Elijah's decisions along the way are not easy ones, but ultimately lead to a satisfying conclusion. Curtis's talent for dealing with painful periods of history with grace and sensitivity is as strong as ever.—Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA School Library Journal, A Reed Business Information Publication
Publishers Weekly: Elijah Freeman, 11, has two claims to fame. He was the first child “born free” to former slaves in Buxton, a (real) haven established in 1849 in Canada by an American abolitionist. The rest of his celebrity, Elijah reports in his folksy vernacular, stems from a “tragical” event. When Frederick Douglass, the “famousest, smartest man who ever escaped from slavery,” visited Buxton, he held baby Elijah aloft, declaring him a “shining bacon of light and hope,” tossing him up and down until the jostled baby threw up—on Douglass. The arresting historical setting and physical comedy signal classic Curtis (Bud, Not Buddy ), but while Elijah's boyish voice represents the Newbery Medalist at his finest, the story unspools at so leisurely a pace that kids might easily lose interest. Readers meet Buxton's citizens, people who have known great cruelty and yet are uncommonly polite and welcoming to strangers. Humor abounds: Elijah's best friend puzzles over the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” and decides it's about sexual reproduction. There's a rapscallion of a villain in the Right Reverend Deacon Doctor Zephariah Connerly the Third, a smart-talking preacher no one trusts, and, after 200 pages, a riveting plot: Zephariah makes off with a fortune meant to buy a family of slaves their freedom. Curtis brings the story full-circle, demonstrating how Elijah the “fra-gile” child has become sturdy, capable of stealing across the border in pursuit of the crooked preacher, and strong enough to withstand a confrontation with the horrors of slavery. The powerful ending is violent and unsettling, yet also manages to be uplifting.
Kirkus Reviews: Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman is known for two things: being the first child born free in Buxton, Canada, and throwing up on the great Frederick Douglass. It's 1859, in Buxton, a settlement for slaves making it to freedom in Canada, a setting so thoroughly evoked, with characters so real, that readers will live the story, not just read it. This is not a zip-ahead-and-see-what-happens-next novel. It's for settling into and savoring the rich, masterful storytelling, for getting to know Elijah, Cooter and the Preacher, for laughing at stories of hoop snakes, toady-frogs and fish-head chunking and crying when Leroy finally gets money to buy back his wife and children, but has the money stolen. Then Elijah journeys to America and risks his life to do what's right. This is Curtis's best novel yet, and no doubt many readers, young and old, will finish and say, "This is one of the best books I have ever read."


5. CONNECTIONS
Have students work in small groups to create readers’ theater, write on journal, and have them understand that this story is to bring us together vs. separating us. This story is about what we can learn from the past.