- Paperback: 144 pages
- Publisher: Puffin Canada; Revised edition edition (Feb 11 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0141306866
- ISBN-13: 978-0141306865
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.2 x 1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 91 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #15,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
"There's a place the slaves been whisperin' around called Canada. The law don't allow no slavery there. They say you follow the North Star, and when you step onto this land you are free." Mammy Sally's "secret talk" to her daughter Julilly in Barbara Smucker's Underground to Canada becomes the only beacon of hope when the 12-year-old girl is cruelly separated from her mother by a slave trader. As the hellish conditions at her new plantation become intolerable, Julilly and her friend Liza are offered a means to escape to Canada by a mysterious visitor from the Underground Railroad. The threat of being recaptured by slave hunters and their howling bloodhounds is ever-present, but Julilly finds strength, courage, and a growing sense of self-worth within herself and from some unlikely people along the way.
Exposing young readers to the abhorrent practice of slavery without overly upsetting them is a difficult challenge that author Barbara Smucker handles with considerable skill. Her moving and dramatic account of Julilly's flight to freedom honestly depicts the horrors of slavery while wisely avoiding its most gruesome aspects. And when Mammy Sally tells her daughter that while "none of us is slaves," "the white people in St. Catharines don't want us in their schools," Smucker is also acknowledging that life for ex-slaves in Canada wasn't easy. First published in 1977, Underground to Canada has become a classic, a first-rate historical novel that deftly portrays a young girl's personal quest for freedom and dignity against the broader struggle between good and evil. --Martha Johnson
Review
Barbara Smucker's book is remarkable for its fine characterization and its insightful narrative; there isn't a false note...All children should read it. -- - The New York Times
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good for Grade Six,
By ,Smiths Grade 8s (Hanover, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Underground to Canada (Paperback)
"Underground to Canada" by Barbra Smucker is a novel about slaves in the United Statesof America during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The story follows two slaves on their journey to find liberation from slavery via the "Underground Railway" to Canada. Unaware of what Canada might really hold for them, they persisted based only on the hope that what they had been told about Canada would be true, to fulfill their dream or freedom. This would be a good book for students around the Grade 6 level. For older students, however, this book did not seem to fully describe the geniuine difficulty that such an epic journey would have entailed. Many of the obstacles the escaping slaves encountered seemed to be resolved quickly, before any true climax was able to be established. The book did allow for some very in-depth, and enriching class conversations, but only when the ideas were taken outside of the novel and applied to current events. Although there is much critisim in our perspective, this novel could be read to understand the vicious aspect of slavery and the history behind it all, through the rich class discussions it evoked.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book for young readers by PM,
By A Customer
This review is from: Underground to Canada (Paperback)
Julilly is a black girl who gets taken away to a slave camp during the time that slavery was legal in the United States. She has to leave everything she loves behind. It seems like hope is lost, but when she makes a new friend, and a mysterious stranger from Canada comes, her whole life starts to change. I think that slavery is wrong, and you can't judge someone by the color of his or her skin. I liked reading this book because before I didn't know very much about black slavery, so I learned a lot about that in this book. I would recommend this book to other people because it is about never giving up, and if you have a dream... go for it!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Underground To Canada,
By
This review is from: Underground to Canada (Paperback)
This is an entertaining read. I feel fortunate that I did not notice that it is a children's book, as I may not have purchased it and missed the opportunity to enjoy a well-written story.
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