Underground to Canada
This is my favorite book. Written by Barbara Smucker, it's the story of a black slave girl named Julilly who is taken away from her mother by a slave trader from another plantation in the deep south and forced to work their under brutal conditions. Befriended by a hunchbacked girl named Liza, Julilly meets with Alexander Ross, a member of the Underground Railroad dedicated to helping slaves reach freedom in Canada. Joined by two other slaves, Lester and Adam, Julilly and Liza begin an epic journey following the north star and toward freedom, all while being hunted by relentless slave hunters determined to bring them back.
I really enjoyed this book. It was easy for me to form pictures in my head as to what is happening. The author used lots of similies to describe and compare things, and even introduced two real non-fictional people into the work: Alexander Ross and Levi Coffin.
Stories are about people who overcome challenges. However, most of the work is done for them. Most of the chapters chronicling their quest to Canada involves them coming into the care of others who give them food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. There also isn't much character development as the characters don't grow or change or learn anything. Julilly is a "perfect" character with no flaws and Liza is never faces an obstacle where she conquers her flaw of being hunchbacked.
But other than all this, Underground to Canada was an excellent read and I highly recommend it to everyone.
