I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: The Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl, Mars Bluff, South Carolina 1865 (Dear America Series)
Grade 4-7–Joyce Hansens Coretta Scott King Honor book (Scholastic, 1997) is set in South Carolina in 1865 just after the Civil War. Lame, shy, and afflicted with a stammer, 12-year-old Patsy hides her ability to read and write–recording her thoughts and observations secretly in a journal. Her diary, written during her first year of freedom, expresses both her tremulous path towards personal selfhood (typical of all 12 year olds) as well as the growing political awareness, courage, and self-determination of the community of freed slaves. Through reading to others and teaching the freed plantation children their letters, Patsy begins to lose her stammer and discover her vocation. SiSi Johnsons reading of the diary perfectly captures the young girls voice and the cadences of post-Civil War South Carolina. Barbara Rosen reads the books epilogue and historical notes. Listeners will want to have the book at hand to view photographs, drawings, and maps that detail and illuminate the era. This well done audiobook has enough suspense to hold the attention of preteens while providing an enriching experience for students studying the Reconstruction period.–Emily Herman, Mary Lin Elementary School, Atlanta, GACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.