Elijah of Buxton - 1531 Words

ELIJAH OF BUXTON WRITTEN BY: CHRISTOPHER PAUL CURTIS Elijah is the first generation of free-born members of his family. Escaping the oppression of the pre-Emancipation Proclamation and pre-Civil War torn United States, Elijah s family escaped to an established free-black community in Canada. The book focuses on events in Elijah s life - attending school, doing chores, fishing, and playing with his friends. Elijah experiences growing up free in a settlement of former and escaped slaves and he is just beginning to understand what that means when the local preacher steals money that is being saved to purchase the freedom of others trapped in the U.S. Elijah embarks on a mission to return the funds to their rightful owners and†¦show more content†¦He encourages readers to visit this location, with its hidden Liberty bell (that was enclosed in a bell tower when the Buxton church was sold) and it history and to open a discussion about these events. If I ever get the chance, I believe I will visit Buxton and see history come to lif e!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.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