Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Anderson, Laurie Halse Chains 316 pgs. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
~Language PG, Sexual Content~PG Violence~PG-13

Isabel is sad that her Mistress is dead, but now she is free. In the old woman’s will Isabel and her sister are to be set free from their bonds of slavery. However, the old woman’s nephew sees only money in the form of Isabel and her sister. He sells them at auction to a man and woman from Boston. Thus begins her story as a slave in the town where our own American Revolution. Ironically, this was a movement to free a group of colonies from the bondage of England, and yet these colonies are still a place where one human being can own another. Isabel is now owners are loyal to King George and England. However, Isabel learns that there is a group of ‘rebels’ that are fighting for their freedom. If the revolutionaries win, does she earn her freedom too?

In a powerful historical fiction novel, Anderson has brought a voice to a rarely documented irony in American history.

MS/HS ADVISABLE Allison Madsen~Youth Services Librarian-SJO Public Librarian