Review by Booklist Review
Presented as the narrator's family history, this story highlights lesser-known elements of U.S. history, while the sparing use of dialect adds to the oral-history feeling without alienating readers unfamiliar with it. The story begins with Gilbert Fields, also known as the African, the patriarch of a family escaping slavery in Georgia. A severe storm blots out the stars, and when it clears, they discover they've been running south instead of north. Fortunately, another runaway slave advises them to travel further south and join either the Black Seminoles in Florida or the community of free blacks in Mobile, Alabama. Rush's spot drawings highlight characters as well as flora and fauna of the region as the family overcomes obstacles to reach Florida only to find the Seminoles at war with U.S. forces. They fight but eventually choose to make their way to Mobile. The fascinating story of the Black Seminoles who travel the Trail of Tears will capture readers as much as the main story, which has a more-than-earned happy ending.--Seales, Stephanie Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Gaillard (Journey to the Wilderness) recounts a family story told to him by a friend, Robert Croshon, about an escape led by Croshon's enslaved great-grandfather, Gilbert Fields, as he fled a Georgia plantation "sometime well before the Civil War, probably in the 1830s." Reflecting the nature of the story as one passed down orally between generations, Gaillard adopts the informal voice of one of Fields's descendants: "I was just a boy the first time I heart it, probably 'bout the age that you are now," he writes after describing a perilous trek across a creek that claimed the life of one of Fields's daughters. As Fields and his family attempt to flee to Savannah, a storm prevents them from using the Big Dipper as their guide; after getting turned around, they decide to head for Mobile, Ala. Gaillard weaves information about the history of the Black Seminoles into the story-including a cameo by one of the community's real-life leaders, John Horse-though these circuitously described details can dissipate some of the tension from the in-progress escape. Rush provides rough black-and-white sketches throughout. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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