Chasing Freedom

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - North Yarmouth Academy, Yarmouth, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: July 6, 2015

Review

This book imagines a lengthy conversation between Harriet Tubman, architect of the Underground Railroad, and Susan B. Anthony, abolitionist and suffragette. Grimes trades off every other page with Tubman's story and Anthony's story, and because she chose to tell the story in first-person narrative, the conversations are stilted. It is hard to fall into a story when a character mentions a speech that she gave and then gives a few lines; it just doesn't seem like something a person would do in normal conversation. But if the reader can suspend disbelief and read this for its historical merit and its illumination of the views of two incredibly powerful and influential woman of the late-1800s, it's an interesting book. It seems like it would have been better as a two-women play (the author mentions in an afterword that she originally wrote something like that and then based this book on those dialogues - it might have been helpful to have that note before the book as I could see students/readers getting confused about when this meeting happened and whether or not these quotes were real). As it stands, this book is a work of historical fiction though many of the quotes are taken directly from journals and letters. The acrylic and oil illustrations by Michelle Wood are inspired by designs found in American patchwork quilts and African motif patterns. The rich color palette is pleasing and the style perfectly fits the time-period depicted, looking like old wood cuts and reflecting many of the iconography of the 19th century. A few of the images (page 18 "Speech Speech") are jarring but, on the whole, they capture the essence of the time. With copious biographical and historic notes at the end of the story, this book would be a wonderful jumping-off point to teach young readers about the movements and events of the late 1800s and many of the passionate people who helped bring about an end to slavery in the United States. I was sad to learn that neither Tubman nor Anthony lived to see their other dearest cause, that of women's voting rights, come to pass though both helped lay the groundwork to see that it did.

Overall Book Score: good