The Drinking Gourd (Rise and Shine)

The stars of the Big Dipper have led a runaway slave family to Deacon Fuller's house, a stop on the Underground Railroad. Will Tommy Fuller be able to hide the runaways from a search party—or will the secret passengers be discovered and their hope for freedom destroyed?

This Level 3 I Can Read book is a captivating first-person historical fiction account of the Underground Railroad, narrated by Tommy, a ten year-old Quaker boy,. With beautiful, simple prose that folds in historical facts about slavery and the Civil War, this book makes this important period of American history accessible to beginning readers. Includes an afterword from the author F.N. Monjo that explains the historical context of the Fugitive Slave Law.

Supports the Common Core Learning Standards

The late F. N. Monjo, author of The Drinking Gourd, wrote two other popular I Can Read Books: Indian Summer, illustrated by Anita Lobel, and The One Bad Thing About Father, illustrated by Rocco Negri.