#22 January's Sparrow

January's Sparrow Author/Illustrator: Patricial Polocco
Michigan Notable Book, 2009
96 Pages

Historical Fiction

I chose this book because I was looking for something similar to Henry's Freedom Box. I really enjoyed that book and how it had such a great ending for Henry. I knew that there had to be more great stories about slaves and how they risked their lives for the freedom that they always deserved. This book was extremely long for a picture book, but by no means do I regret spending the time sitting in the bookstore reading every last word. It has officially become one of my favorite books.
The Crosswhite family were slaves in Kentucky.Sadie was the youngest of the family and had grown very close to an older slave boy named January, who carved her a sparrow out of wood. January had no family, so he was just like part of theirs. One day, after January had tried to escape, the Crosswhite family was made to stand on their porch as the slavemaster dragged January up the road behind a buggy and beat him to death before thier very eyes. Shortly after that, they all escaped. During the escape, Sadie realized that she had accidentally left January's sparrow behind. They made it to Michigan, where they lived for 4 years. During those four years, they constantly worried that their owners would find them. They knew they should get to Canada, where they knew they would be safe, but they stayed and had many friends looking out for them. Finally, one night, the sparrow appeard on their doorsteps. The men had found them, but so had January. He had not died. The men were jailed in the town for assault and, in the meantime, January and the Crosswhites ran to Canada where they were safe from then on.
The illustrations were gut-wrenchingly accurate to the horror that took place on plantations in those days. The blood and sorrowful expressions on the faces of the people depicted perfectly the reality of slave life.  The colors change as the mood changes. It is very dark and scary as the famiy was in the process of making their way to safety. The colors got much more cheerful as the family settled in to their little town and made friends.
I think that this book would be much more appropriate for the older students, and perhaps even on into middle school. The graphic nature of the illustrations might disturb younger students, while by fourth or fifth grades, they will have already heard much about slavery and be more prepared for the illustrations.
This would be an excellent book to use for social studies. If I get an older group of students after I start teaching, I will definitely have this handy in my classroom for when we start talking about the oppression that slaves suffered before the Emancipation Proclamation freed them.
I did not find any awards for this book, however I do believe that it should have recieved some.