To Be a Slave by Julius Lester: Book Cover

    To Be a Slave by Julius Lester, Tom Feelings (Illustrator)

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    (Paperback - Reissue)

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    • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
    • Pub. Date: December 2005
    • ISBN-13: 9780142403860
    • Sales Rank: 30,478
    • Age Range: 12 and up
    • 176pp
    • Edition Description: Reissue
     
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    Synopsis

    A 30th-anniversary edition of the 1969 Newbery Honor winner. For three decades To Be a Slave has moved readers and educated them about the experience of slavery in America, told through the words of black men and women who lived it. In this edition, author Julius Lester and illustrator Tom Feelings have written new and intensely personal introductions, reflecting on the longevity of the book, its impact on both of them, and the role it has played in helping Americans face and move beyond a painful past.

    Annotation

    A compilation, selected from various sources and arranged chronologically, of the reminiscences of slaves and ex-slaves about their experiences from the leaving of Africa through the Civil War and into the early twentieth century.

    Children's Literature

    A number of books have been written for young people about slavery in the United States, but none could be more powerful and compelling than Lester's award-winning book. Reissued on the thirtieth anniversary of the original publication, this Newbery Honor Book personalizes the hardships and struggles of African-American slaves. What was it like to be a slave? Lester uses the words of slaves and ex-slaves to tell this story. From slave narratives of the 1800s and interviews of ex-slaves conducted by the Federal Writers' Project of the 1930s, the victims describe living conditions under a bondage that negated one's humanity. What emerges is not the stereotypical image of the passive or happy-go-lucky slave. Passion and emotion emanate from these passages, as those affected describe slave trade, the auction block, resistance to slavery, plantation life and emancipation. It is easy to see why this book continues to have appeal after 30 years. The author's goal in allowing readers to experience slaves as human beings has made this book to excel. The dehumanizing aspects of slavery are made abundantly clear, but a testament to the human spirit of those who endured or survived this experience is exalted. 1998 (orig. 1968), Puffin Books/Penguin, $20.00 and $5.99. Ages 10 to 14. Reviewer: Jeanette Lambert

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    Customer Reviews

    To Be a Slaveby Anonymous

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    April 19, 2005: This book has made me realized what an awful time slavery was. It was a great and powerful book that I couldn't put down until I was finished, much more interesting than what we learn in school.

    To Be a Slaveby Anonymous

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    December 02, 2003: this was a great book, had great depth in how it described what a slave really went thru, its very easy to read, no complicated vocabulary, which made everything easy to understand, adn really page by page made u want to read more and more everytime, you really cant put it down, hte pain well described by the real slaves made you feel how cruel people can really be.


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