Book overview
Follow the adventures of three 12-year-old boys, one a recently emancipated slave, as they seek to restore their friendship during the early Reconstruction days in Marietta, Georgia, and then answer the question of why freedom for the formerly enslaved is so costly.
- Historical fiction that resonates deeply with contemporary issues.
- Offers young readers a window into a pivotal time in American History.
- Resources for middle-grade teachers.
"I'se me...I'se a person...can't nobody own me..." 12-year-old Albert, a recently emancipated slave, tells his friend, Sam, in this historical-fiction book. Albert, Sam Benedict, and Sam's school friend, Will Cobb, are caught in the chaos, desperation, and bitterness of white southern Georgia during the Reconstruction period in the South. The three boys face challenging experiences when reestablishing a friendship they had before the war. While Will and his family face the devastation and bitterness from their losses, Albert and his family find hope when the Freedmen's Bureau holds a hearing. Attempts to attend school together and then facing the wrath of the Ku Klux Klan create chaos in all their lives. The story is based on oral histories handed down from the author's Benedict relatives about their lives in Georgia during and after the Civil War.
This story reminds readers of the struggles Black Americans have faced during the four-hundred years since the slave trade began, how far we've come as a nation, and how prejudice and racism still haunt Americans. Since this story captures the good, bad, and ugly during that period of America's history, the challenge for teachers will be to courageously engage young people in the lives of each of the characters.
Activities in the Afterword are designed to challenge young people to make a difference in their own lives and encourage them to form Sam clubs to practice treating other kids like they themselves want to be treated.
