![]() ![]() It’s a worthy companion to Patricia Polacco’s Civil War story, Pink and Say, as both are picture books for older readers, and both are based on true stories. All the textbooks you read about the Underground Railroad pale in comparison to a story like this, one that children will remember always. ![]() Note that this is Polacco’s 50th (and maybe finest) book. Polacco’s oversized illustrations, rendered in pencils and markers, are moving, terrifying, and sometimes horrifying, but you won’t be able to look away. I’m gonna tell it for her, near as I can.” Not until the end of the book do you discover that person’s identity. ![]() The Prologue is written in the first person by an unknown narrator who says, “This here is Sadie’s story. After four years in Marshall, word comes that slave catchers have been spotted nearby. Sadie attends school for the first time, where she becomes fast friends with Polly, a white child. Sixty of the 2,000 residents are Negroes, but the family is warned never to tell any white folks that they are runaways. With the assistance of the Underground Railroad, eight-year-old Sadie Crosswhite and her family make it from Kentucky, across the Ohio River, and travel for days until they reach Marshall, Michigan, a place where they should be safe. ![]()
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