Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: R (see below)
BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - ESSENTIAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
In 1860, the Clothida was last slave ship to ever land on American soil. Follow the slaves through the horrific events of the Middle Passage, their attempts at creating community and normalcy once arriving despite the inhumanity shown to them, and finally, after the Civil War, their creation of a unique township that still exists today.
The novel in verse format makes an overwhelming and painful topic a bit more digestible. Told through the voices of 14 individual characters, the horrors that occur and the progression of the story are even more personal. Latham and Walters do not pull any punches. Humans are abducted in the middle of the night at knifepoint. A village is massacred and families are separated. Slavers intimidate with “severed heads hanging like ornaments from de soldiers’ belts.” Later, in America, a character alludes to a rape by her traitorous uncle (who sold her and others to the slavers) saying, “He laid on tops of me He did what bad men do.” Still, the story is one of strength, triumph, hope, and community. We are left with a clear understanding of the horror of the time, but also admiration for all those who persevered.
Reviewer: Bridget Rees, MS Librarian, Utah
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