Neptune's Honor: A Story of Loyalty and Love
Grade 6 Up–This novel, based on a real person living near the south Georgia Sea Islands, begins in 1837 and ends after the Civil War. As a child slave, Neptune Small was a helpmate and companion to the plantation family's oldest son, Henry Lord Page King. Just five months apart in age, they were inseparable throughout the boys' youth. As he comes of age, Neptune marries and begins a family. He accompanies Lordy when he enlists during the Civil War, and later brings his body home. At war's end, Neptune becomes a free man but chooses to remain with the King family. The story builds steadily until the beginning of the Civil War after which it shows how the war changed the plantation culture in the South. It is readable, but the plot is not consistently strong. The focus is on what happens in the plantation house and on Neptune's relationship with the Kings; there is relatively little about his own family and their daily life. However, the most serious problem is the strong dialect used by the slave characters. It would present some reading challenges to modern children. More importantly, it revisits stereotypes about slaves and conveys a message that they were not able to use standard southern English. In addition, this story about a trusted house slave who was well treated shields children from the cruel reality of slavery for many African Americans.–Jane G. Connor, South Carolina State Library, Columbia