DC Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. While she and her strict mother wait for her Pullman porter father to move them up North, they work very hard just to survive. Cleaning, cooking, and waiting tea for the white people in town, Francie wonders just what it would be like to have nothing to do other than enjoy the day, but each of her father's letters brings only promises and disappointment. When Jessie, an older school friend who is without family, is forced on the run by a racist employer, Francie leaves her mother's labeled canned food for him in the woods. Only when the sheriff begins searching their woods, and her younger brother and cousin are abducted, does she realize the depth of the danger she may have brought to her family.
Characterization is evenhanded and believable, while place and time envelop readers.
The message that one must rise out of oppression and actively seek a better life is a good one. KY Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. Scholastic, Inc. Pub. A well-researched and detailed book chronicling the contributions of African Americans to the whaling industry. Many were drawn to jobs on whaling ships throughout the 1600-1800s, for while conditions were difficult, they were preferable to slavery.