Historical Fiction

Slavery and the Underground Railroad

J/F/GUCCIONE
Guccione, Leslie D. - Come Morning
Freedom's father, a freed slave, is a conductor on the Underground Railroad. When his father is taken prisoner by slave catchers, Freedom finds the courage to continue his father's dangerous work. 120p.

J/F/DEAR
McKissack, Pat - A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl
Clotee, a house slave, must hide the fact that she can read and write. Her secret diary is filled with details about her life and her struggles over whether to flee or stay and help others escape. 192p.

J/F/HURMENCE
Hurmence, Belinda - A Girl Called Boy
Blanche Overtha Yancey (Boy, for short) hates her name, handed down from her slave ancestors. Tired of hearing the old family stories, Boy is in for a horri-fic shock when she is transported back in time and finds herself on the run from plantation owners, hunting dogs and slave catchers. 168p.

J/F/LASKY
Lasky, Kathryn - True North: A Novel of the Underground Railroad
When Lucy finds a runaway slave girl hiding in her grandfather's house, she agrees to help the girl find her way north, along the Underground Railroad. 266p.

J/F/LYONS
Lyons, Mary E. - Dear Ellen Bee: A Civil War Scrapbook of Two Union Spies
A wealthy lady of Richmond and her servant, a freed slave, infiltrate the highest level of the Confederacy to spy for the Union Army. The two women communicate through a scrapbook which includes notes, documents and newspaper clippings, telling of the dangerous times in which they live. 161p.

J/F/NIXON
Nixon, Joan Lowery - Caesar's Story, 1759
Caesar has been a slave on the Carter's Grove plantation near Williamsburg all of his life. When the Master chooses Caesar to be his personal ser-vant, Caesar must move into the big house, far away from his family and friends. 165p.

J/F/NORDAN
Nordan, Robert - The Secret Road
Laura leaves her parents' Georgia plantation to spend the summer with her Quaker aunt and uncle. After Laura discovers that their home is a stop on the Underground Railroad, they ask her to accompany a pregnant slave girl to her waiting husband in the North. 202p.

J/F/PINKNEY
Pinkney, Andrea Davis - Silent Thunder: A Civil War Story
Summer and Rosco take turns describing their lives as slaves on a quiet Virginia plantation in the early days of the Civil War. 218p.

J/F/REEDER
Reeder, Carolyn - Across the Lines
Edward, the son of a plantation owner, and Simon, his black house slave, have always been close friends. However, when the war comes to their home, each boy must seek his own path. 220p.

J/F/RINALDI
Rinaldi, Ann - Taking Liberty
After serving Martha Washington loyally for twenty years, Oney realizes that she is still just a slave and not really a member of the family. Should she stay, comfortable and owned, or flee to freedom? 267p.

J/F/ROBINET
Robinet, Harriette - Twelve Travelers, Twenty Horses
On the eve of the 1860 presidential election, Jacob and nine other slaves are sold in a slave auction to a new master. On the journey to their master's new home in California, Jacob uncovers a plot that may cause the South to secede from the Union. 192p.

J/F/TURNER
Turner, Glennette Tilley - Running for Our Lives
With slave catchers on their trail, Luther and his sister are forced to separate from the rest of their family and travel north alone, along the Underground Railroad. 198p.

J/F/WHITMORE
Whitmore, Arvella - Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun
Jordan has decided to join the local street gang, the Cobras, when he is transported through time to become a slave on the plantation where his ancestors lived and worked. 184p.

Prepared by J. Runge, December 2004