The Slave Dancer - Softcover

Fox, Paula

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416971394 ISBN 13: 9781416971399

Publisher: Aladdin, 2008

One day, thirteen-year-old jessie Bollier is earning pennies playing his fife on the docks of New Orleans; the next, he is kidnapped and thrown aboard a slave ship, where his job is to provide music while shackled slaves "dance" to keep their muscles strong and their bodies profitable. As the endless voyage continues, Jessie grows increasingly sickened by the greed, brutality, and inhumanity of the slave trade, but nothing prepares him for the ultimate horror he will witness before his nightmare ends -- a horror that will change his life forever.

From the Publisher:

Snatched from the docks of New Orleans, thirteen-year-old Jessie is thrown aboard a slave ship where he must play his fife so that captured slaves will "dance," and keep their muscles strong and their bodies profitable.

Jessie is sickened by the horrible practices of the slave business. But they are nothing compared to the one final horror that Jessie will witness. Can the cruelty be stopped? And will it be too late when it does?

From the Back Cover:

"Fox has woven a spellbinding tale of suspense and survival that will horrify as well as fascinate..."

-- Library Journal (starred review)

"A story that movingly and realistically presents one of the most gruesome chapters of history, with all the violence, inhuman conditions, and bestial aspects of human nature -- exposed but never exploited in Fox's graphic, documentary prose."

-- Booklist (starred review)