As a first-generation freeborn black, 11-year-old Elijah Buxton had no direct experience with slavery. That changes, however, when a thief steals money set aside for freeing a friend's enslaved family. Elijah sets off rapidly in pursuit, leaving behind his Canadian home and crossing into dangerous American territory, where he encounters terrifying evidence of the grievous human cost of slavery. History is made palpable in this novel by Newbery Medal winner Christopher Paul Curtis.
Publisher
As a first-generation freeborn black, 11-year-old Elijah Buxton had no direct experience with slavery. That changes, however, when a thief steals money set aside for freeing a friend's enslaved family. Elijah sets off rapidly in pursuit, leaving behind his Canadian home and crossing into dangerous American territory, where he encounters terrifying evidence of the grievous human cost of slavery. History is made palpable in this novel by Newbery Medal winner Christopher Paul Curtis.
Bruno Navasky
Floating up like a bubble through layers of history, buoyed with hope and comic energy…Elijah of Buxton tells the story of Elijah Freeman, the first freeborn child in the historic Elgin Settlement, a village of escaped slaves in Canada…As in his previous novels, Curtis is a master at balancing the serious and the lighthearted: as Langston Hughes said of the blues, "not softened with tears, but hardened with laughter." He has already received a Newbery medal and an honor for two novels rooted in the experience of black Americans: "The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963 and Bud, Not Buddy. His latest book is another natural award candidate and makes an excellent case, in a story positively brimming with both truth and sense, for the ability of historical fiction to bring history to life.
—The New York Times
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. Ages 9-12. (Oct.)
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School Library Journal
Gr 4-8- Set in 1860, 11-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway and freed slaves, in Christopher Paul Curtis's Newbery Honor book (Scholastic, 2007). When money that Elijah's friend has been saving to send to America to buy his family's freedom is stolen, Elijah crosses the border into Detroit on a dangerous mission to help recover it. Narrated by Elijah, the horrors of slavery are revealed. This engrossing tale is read by Mirron Willis who effortlessly varies his rich, textured voice to make each character unique. This story will captivate listeners.-Karen T. Bilton, Mary Jacobs Memorial Library, Rocky Hill, NJ
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." (author's note) (Fiction. 9+)
From the Publisher
"As in his previous novels, Curtis is a master at balancing the serious and the lighthearted... His latest book is another natural award candidate and makes an excellent case, in a story positively brimming with both truth and sense, for the ability of historical fiction to bring history to life." — New York Times Book Review"Here's a pre-Civil War history lesson wrapped in an adventure story." — USA Today"Curtis has created a vivid setting that is easy to imagine. When the action begins, you'll want to race through the pages." — The Washington Post* "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.'" — Kirkus Reviews, starred review* "Many readers drawn to the book by humor will find themselves, at times, on the edges of their seats in suspense and, at others, moved to tears. A fine, original novel from a gifted storyteller." — Booklist, starred review* "This arresting, surprising novel of reluctant heroism is about nothing less than nobility." — The Horn Book, starred review* "Curtis's talent for dealing with painful periods of history with grace and sensitivity is as strong as ever." — School Library Journal, starred review"Elijah of Buxton is sure to become a classic — for readers of all ages." — BookPage"The Newbery Medal judges should just go ahead and put Christopher Paul Curtis on speed dial." — The Christian Science Monitor"Curtis is a genius storyteller..." — Detroit Free Press
JUN/JUL 08 - AudioFile
A rich story and authentic sounding dialect distinguish this dynamic audio. Curtis’s Newbery Honor Book tells the story of Elijah, an 11-year-old boy who is the first freeborn black in his Buxton, Canada, settlement. Elijah is working on overcoming his fears of snakes and living down the story of how, as a baby, he threw up on Frederick Douglass. Mirron Willis delivers depth of emotion as he shapes the story's rhythms and pacing. He successfully shifts from a light comedic tone of much of the story to a tone of chilling determination when Elijah becomes involved in a dangerous mission to free a group of slaves. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
