Promises to the Dead - Hardcover

Hahn, Mary Downing

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 039596394X ISBN 13: 9780395963944

Publisher: Clarion Books, 2000

Synopsis

When Jesse Sherman promises to take a dying slave girl's small son safely to Baltimore, he embarks on a perilous journey that takes him to the darkest depths of humanity where only love, courage, and compassion will see him through, in an exciting novel set against the backdrop of the Civil War.

About this title

About the Author

Mary Downing Hahn, a former children’s librarian, is the award-winning author of many popular ghost stories, including Deep and Dark and Dangerous and The Old Willis Place. An avid reader, traveler, and all-around arts lover, Ms. Hahn lives in Columbia, Maryland, with her two cats, Oscar and Rufus.

Reviews

Grade 4-6-Despite some unlikely coincidences and superficial secondary characters, this is a reasonably exciting adventure story that integrates many historical details. When 12-year-old Jesse, a white Southerner, promises Lydia, a slave who dies while trying to escape, that he will take her young son, Perry, to relatives in Baltimore, he finds himself not only traveling farther than he's ever been, but caught up in the outbreak of the Civil War as well. The focus of the story is Jesse's realization about the evils of slavery, personified by the despicable Colonel Botfield, who is searching for the runaways. In the end, Jesse has learned to question much of what he has been taught. The African-American characters, while mostly brave and good, serve mainly to move the plot along. Some readers may find the facts that Perry's father was a white slave owner who seduced Lydia and that Colonel Botfield is indeed Lydia's father confusing. While these details add important historical information, they overload the plot at times. Still, the dangers that Jesse and Perry encounter, and the events they witness, from a riot in Baltimore to a skirmish with Union soldiers, make this an involving story that raises many of the issues that led to the Civil War.
Cyrisse Jaffee, formerly at Newton Public Schools, MA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Hahn's (Anna All Year Round) historical novel, set in a divided Maryland at the beginning of the Civil War, portrays an unconvincing tale of escape from slavery. The story begins with a tenuous premise: 12-year-old narrator Jesse stumbles on a desperate pregnant runaway captive (whom Jesse recognizes), Lydia, and her young son, Perry, fathered by her recently deceased master, Peregrine Baxter. She holds Jesse at knifepoint ("She'd just as soon kill you as look at you," Perry tells Jesse), yet as the woman is dying from childbirth, Jesse promises her that he'll deliver Perry to Peregrine Baxter's sister in Baltimore (though readers will question whether he'd find a welcome reception). While readers may suspend disbelief regarding Jesse's risk taking, they may not take the leap of faith that captives with even more to lose would help them so freely. For example, during a riot inspired by the influx of Union soldiers in Baltimore (based on actual events), the "meanest and most determined slave-catcher in Talbot County" nabs Perry and knocks Jesse, with a pistol, on the head; Jesse faints in front of Judge Baxter's (Peregrine Baxter's father) residence, and the judge's staff secretly nurses him for weeks. The connection between Jesse and Perry is not fully developed, hence their relationship--as well as Jesse's Herculean efforts--seems hollow. Ages 10-14. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Twelve-year-old Jesse doesn't want to make the promise, but when the dying runaway slave Lydia begs him to take her young son, Perry, to an aunt in Baltimore, Jesse says he will. There are even more complications than Jesse anticpates. Perry's father, Lydia's owner, is a white man. Perry's aunt and other relations in Baltimore are white as well, and one of them is the slave catcher, Colonel Abednego Jones, who is already on the trail of Lydia and Perry. As if this weren't enough, the Yankee army has just invaded Baltimore. Obviously, there's a lot going on here, but the plot never seems too overwhelming. Perhaps that's because Hahn has a marvelous touch when it comes to manipulating her story and heightening the tension in a way that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. What may be confusing for some kids is the overlapping relationship of the black and white families. Hahn doesn't shy away from the fact that some Southern men had children with their slaves, and the climax of the book comes when it is revealed that Colonel Jones is one of Perry's grandfathers. Hahn depicts Jesse as a Huck Finn type who gets involved with racial matters that are beyond his ken but handles life's contradictions by following his heart. Ilene Cooper

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 039596394X
• ISBN 13: 9780395963944
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 202