Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
In a starred review,PW called this novel, based on the life of a slave who disguised herself as a boy and escaped at age 13, "dramatic, often poignant." Ages 10-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Children's Literature
- Dr. Judy Rowen
Ann Maria Weems and her family work for the Prices at their inn and farm. Ann's father is a freeman, but Ann, her siblings and her mother are slaves. Despite this, the love in their family fills the days with joy. Master Price's gambling debts mount, and changes come to the household. When he sells a young slave who everyone knows is his own son, the Weems family becomes concerned. Soon, Ann's brothers are sold deep into the south. The Vigilance Committee helps John Weems buy his wife and daughter Catharine's freedom, but Ann must stay (for now) with the Prices. Eventually, it is time for 12-year-old Ann to "steal freedom" and flee to Canada. A $500 reward has been announced, but Ann and her friends on the Underground Railroad help her assume a new identity-she becomes a boy and successfully escapes. The author has painstakingly recreated mid-nineteenth century Maryland to tell the compelling, true story of Ann Maria Weems.
School Library Journal
Gr 6-10--A deftly crafted story, based on the life of Ann Maria Weems, who was born into slavery in Maryland in the 1840s. Despite the grim realities of her situation, Ann Maria grows up secure in the love of her family. However, her master's debts are many and so her beloved brothers are sold without warning. Abolitionists are able to buy the freedom of the rest of the family, but the master refuses to part with Ann Maria. She suffers regularly at the hands of her mistress, a woman barren, it seems, in both body and soul. At first, Ann Maria nearly succumbs to depression and grief but gradually begins to carve out a life of her own as best she can. She surreptitiously teaches herself to read and falls in love with a neighbor's slave, Alfred. She promises never to leave without him, but there is nothing she can do when she is "kidnapped" by abolitionists and has no way to contact him. Carbone then details the actual route the young woman took and the dangers she faced on the Underground Railroad to Canada. While it is known that the real Alfred escaped to freedom, it is not known whether he and Ann Maria were ever reunited. But there is one source that has led some to believe that they eventually married and it is upon this joyful note that the tale concludes. In the author's note, Carbone sketches the extent of her exhaustive research and provides as much further data on the characters as possible. This is a fine piece of historical fiction with a strong, appealing heroine.--Peggy Morgan, The Library Network, Southgate, MI
Kirkus Reviews
This compelling tale of a passenger on the Underground Railroad is entirely populated with historical figures; not since Gary Paulsen's Nightjohn (1993) has the physical and emotional impact of slavery been made so palpable.
Children's Literature
- Amy McMillan
Thirteen-year-old Anne-Marie Weems is living a rather decent life for a southern slave in 1854. Her family resides in a home together, her father is free, and the rest of them work for the Prices, an Irish family who treat them rather well until drought hits, the master's crops fail and his gambling debts mount. Soon her brothers are sold to slave holders in Alabama and before the rest of the family can be separated the Underground Railroad and the Vigilance Committee step in. Her mother and sister's freedoms are purchased but the Prices' refuse to let Anne go. She reluctantly moves with the Prices to Rockville, Maryland but a plan is in the works to steal her to freedom. Strangers risk everything to send her north; she is "kidnapped" from the Prices', spends months in hiding in Washington, DC (where her father, mother and sister are living) and then is disguised as a boy to make the journey to Canada where she is reconnected with an aunt and uncle, making friends, learning to read and falling in love along the way. There is great insight into the inner workings of the Underground Railroad, including people in other countries, aside from just running and brief shelters in the dead of night. The narration was clear and satisfying with voice changes to distinguish between characters and convincing accents (Irish, southern) when applicable; the speed, pleasantly conversational. Highly recommended. Reviewer: Amy McMillan
