Christopher Paul Curtis's books are generally outstanding, so I was excited to get my copy of this one. It's the story of a community of escaped slaves who live just across the Canadian border in the 1800s. Elijah is a boy known for two things—being the first free-born citizen of Buxton and for throwing up on Frederick Douglass (a famous ex-slave who came to town when Elijah was younger). At first this book seemed kind of like a slice-of-life story about how Elijah was "fra-gile" and was afraid of all kinds of things. There were funny, folksy stories about him and the incidents that happened in Buxton. As the book went on, though, I realized that the author was just setting us up for an amazing, tragic finish. Everything came together in a heartbreaking final incident. You'll just have to read it to understand what I'm talking about. If you stick with this book to the end you are guaranteed to be amazed.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Christopher Paul Curtis's books are generally outstanding, so I was excited to get my copy of this one. It's the story of a community of escaped slaves who live just across the Canadian border in the 1800s. Elijah is a boy known for two things—being the first free-born citizen of Buxton and for throwing up on Frederick Douglass (a famous ex-slave who came to town when Elijah was younger). At first this book seemed kind of like a slice-of-life story about how Elijah was "fra-gile" and was afraid of all kinds of things. There were funny, folksy stories about him and the incidents that happened in Buxton. As the book went on, though, I realized that the author was just setting us up for an amazing, tragic finish. Everything came together in a heartbreaking final incident. You'll just have to read it to understand what I'm talking about. If you stick with this book to the end you are guaranteed to be amazed.
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