I knowed better. Ma and Pa didn't tolerate no one saying that word 'round 'em. They say it's a sign of hatred when a white person says it and a sign of bad upbringing and ignorance when one our own calls it out, so there ain't no good excuses. (PG 96)Newberry Honor Book--2007Christopher Paul Curtis is a true children's writer and I wish there were more authors like him out there. He writes about children and black history without the feeling of making outsiders feel bad about what they were born...

An exciting historical fiction read. Even if you're well past your childhood, if you've never read this, it's worth a try; don't let the "juvenile" label stop you.

Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul Curtis, c. 2007 Ages 9-12This middle-grade story is about a young black boy - the first freeborn black in the Canadian colony of Buxton, Canada, a community of freed and escaped slaves. The book is based on true events, and there is a great summary about the Buxton settlement at the end of the story; it is just as interesting as the story itself. The author also lists his sources and more information about the settlement. Elijah is an 11-year-old boy whom hi...

I mistakenly thought that this was the author's Newbery medal-winning book. Did I "waste" time reading this when I had intended it to be credited towards my project of reading all the Newbery medal books? I don't think so! I enjoyed every page.

Oh, Christopher Paul Curtis, you had me at this description of hoopsnake poisoning:You swell so much that after exactly seven and a half days the pressure in your body becomes too great and you explode like an overheated steam boiler! In seconds your stomach and your lungs and your other entrails are flung around you for milesThen Curtis seals the deal with a two page long section combining my two favorite things: Frederick Douglass and vomit jokes.Clearly, Curtis has upped his comedy game. He h...

A story set in a Canadian settlement of runaway slaves. Elijah was the first child born there, thus the first person born free, living in the community. The book at 340 pages is a bit long for this kind of novel and though there are many small incidents, the major incident in the book doesn't happen until the last quarter of the book. I was waiting for something to happen. I suppose it's a deliberately different construction for a young adult novel. Because of its length, I probably won't put th...

The boys picked to read Elijah of Buxton for this month’s discussion. The librarian asked me how I tricked them into reading an historical novel. I told her it was my wit and good looks. I think it has more to do with the cover. Anyhow, some have loved it, and some have struggled. Third graders are so used to being told to make sure words are spelled correctly that when they read a novel with dialect that is different it takes them out of their comfort zone.On Friday during Independent Reading I...

Despite that I liked Curtis’s lively, colorful, convincing portrayal of everyday life in Buxton, I felt that Elijah of Buxton had a slow start. However, towards the middle of the novel, when Curtis began weaving individual Buxton residents' escape and slave stories into Elijah’s daily experiences, I slowly came to love the book. As I was reading the novel on a CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) bus, I found myself tearing up, suddenly struck by what Elijah and his mother would call being “fra-gile-...

I had a hard time deciding what to rate this book. It isn't very action-packed or exciting. In fact, the events from the book description don't take place until the last 100 pages of the story. For the first 240 pages I felt like I was waiting for the real story to begin.Also, the heavy use of dialect makes the reading a bit tedious. I hope I never have to read "gunn" used for "going to" or even "gonna" again!On the other hand, I was fascinated with the setting. I learned a lot I hadn't known be...

I laughed and cried. Elijah became flesh and blood to me, and of course, I learned a little more about slavery and what it means to be free. It took a page or two for me to get accustomed to the dialect. I kept waiting for the library copy to come in, but went ahead and bought it. It's one worth owning.