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This review is for the content of the 2008 revised edition of this book that has this exact cover. |
About this book:
“Hannah’s world is shaken when she discovers her family’s involvement with the Underground Railroad. When runaways find their way to her Virginia home, she must decide if she will play it safe or join her family to help the slaves escape. In Philadelphia, her friend Sarah is drawn into the life of a seven-year-old orphaned slave, whose health and mental state has been shattered by the evils of slavery. As the danger increases, the girls must find the courage they need to act before it is too late.”
Series: Part of the “Liberty Letters” series, but does not seem to be connected to the other books in the series.
Spiritual Content- 2 Corinthians 3:17 in the author’s note; Scriptures are mentioned, quoted, & remembered; Prayers & Thanking Jesus; Talks about God, Him directing lives, & His plans; ’H’s are not capital when referring to God; Hannah & Sarah’s families are Quakers (they call others in their church “Friend” before the person’s name; It’s noted that they don’t sing or dance); Hannah feels like she’s in “the presence of angels” when in a room of notable men and women (who are against slavery); Mentions of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, & callings from God; Mentions of prayers, praying, answered prayers, & Thanking God; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, those and places in the Bible, & memorizing Scriptures; Mentions of church, church going, services, worship, & preachers; A couple mentions of slaves being taught Bible Scriptures in a Sunday school class every Sabbath, but not to read (because it is illegal to teach a slave to read at that time in history); A couple mentions of Godspeed; A mention of a missionary; A mention of being blessed;
*Note: “Heavens!” is exclaimed once; Hannah writes that showing a runaway slave girl the alphabet made the girl shake like she wrote “the name of the devil himself”; Hannah calls a slave bounty hunter evil; A young male slave tells his mother that “Christian teaching was just a southern way to keep slaves in their place”; A young man tells Sarah to follow her heart and become a doctor if she wants to be.
Negative Content- A mention of curses (said, not written); A bit of eye rolling; Seeing injuries, blood/bleeding, pain, & stitches (including from a young child that was whipped; Sarah helps and watches a doctor treat bloody injuries and give stitches; all up to semi-detailed); Sarah is told about a child witnessing his parents being murdered (up to semi-detailed; pg. 88 in the physical book); Hannah wants her grandfather to stop helping with the Underground Railroad because it’s dangerous for him and her family & when he asks her to help, she doesn’t want to (*Spoilers* Her family help a runaway father and daughter which makes Hannah angry because they will be with them for many weeks and her grandfather could be arrested for helping them; After hearing their story, she still wants the runaway slaves to leave her home soon, but has more compassion and responsibilities for helping them; She still gets upset at the risks, calls the girl unthankful, and gets mad at the girl, but her mom encourages her to show compassion to the girl so Hannah tries to talk to the girl more and help her which leads to them becoming friends *End of Spoilers*); Set prior to the Civil War, this book frequently mentions and shows scenes of the underground railroad, helping escaping slaves to freedom, slaves/slavery (including slaves who were beaten), eluding slave catchers, & potential dangers for the slaves and those helping them (Two paintings in the bonus content at the end of the book show what slave auctions looked like in this historical time-period); Many mentions of slaves, slavery, runaway slaves, & slave catchers (including ones willing to kill slaves & bounties for slaves found dead or alive); Mentions of a slave child’s parents being shot and killed in front of him (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of deaths (including of a wife and baby), illnesses, & grief; Mentions of kidnappers kidnapping or tricking freed slaves to sell them again; Mentions of whippings/beatings, injuries, pain, blood/bleeding, & becoming unconscious due to the whippings (including slave children being whipped and having scars from being whipped, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of weapons & being held at gun-point; Mentions of slave masters threatening their slaves and breaking apart families (both as threats and as reality for some runaway slaves); Mentions of arrests & jails; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of hunting; Mentions of cow dung; A few mentions of fires & vandalism; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of butchering/slaughtering meat animals (for food, barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of thieves; A couple mentions of gossip & rumors; A mention of deaths in a fire; A mention of human trafficking in today’s modern world; A mention of a drunk; A mention of alcohol; A mention of tobacco;
*Note: When undercover and helping with the Underground Railroad, Sarah has to color her face with silver nitrate to pass as a “Negro” (once; done with intentions to help and not racism); Sarah wants to be a doctor, but her father is not comfortable with the idea of a woman being a doctor (he “ramble[s] on” about a Quaker woman’s aspirations of a “husband, children, home, and service” and pretends he doesn’t hear her talk about her being able to serve by healing others; Sarah is concerned that her father is worried about her wanting to live in a man’s world and that she is not dedicated to becoming a proper Quaker woman; *Spoiler* At the end of the book, her parents give her their blessing for her to study to become a doctor *End of Spoiler*); A few mentions of prejudice free black women face in the North (regarding their hair and trying to make it look more like white women’s hair to be more accepted).
Sexual Content- A few blushes (due to a wink from a boy & due to family members asking Sarah & Hannah about boys and courting); Sarah thinks there is no time for courting and doesn’t think any boy would want to marry a doctor; Mentions of boys, courting, being sweet on someone, & Sarah being expected to marry in the near future; A mention of a married couple sharing a kiss.
-Sarah Smith
-Hannah Brown, age 16
P.O.V. switches between them via letters
Set in 1858-1859
224 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Just like the other book I read in this series last month, this was a hard read because of the history of the time-period. It’s awful to read about people were treated—mistreated—just because of their skin color. Unlike the prior book, however, I found myself much more interested in this plot with seeing those that our main characters were helping and the book felt like a much faster pace because of the dangers of helping runaway slaves. At first, I struggled with keeping these two main characters and their lives separated in my head, but eventually kept them straight.
I’ve been impressed with this series so far and I’m definitely hoping to read the next two books in the series soon! With the two books I have read and reviewed, I think this could be a good addition for homeschool families adding this book to their curriculum about these historical time-periods. It’s a harder read and will depend on the girl’s sensitivity level, but it’s important history to know and I think the author has done great on showing what happened through the eyes of teens.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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