Synopsis
In two parallel stories, a Quaker family in Kansas in the late 1850s operates a station on the Underground Railroad, while almost 150 years later twelve-year-old Dana moves into the same house and finds the skeleton of a black woman who helped the Quakers.In two parallel stories, a Quaker family in Kansas in the late 1850s operates a station on the Underground Railroad, while almost 150 years later twelve-year-old Dana moves into the same house and finds the skeleton of a black woman who helped the Quakers
Reviews
Grade 6-8?Dana, 12, is helping her parents to restore an old house in Kansas as a bed-and-breakfast when she discovers a boarded-up room containing a human skeleton. With it, she finds the diary of Millicent Weaver, a Quaker and early resident of the house. She learns that the house was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and that runaway slaves were taken there by a former slave, Lizbet Charles. Of course, Miz Lizbet is Dana's skeleton, and the cause of her death at the age of 25 is finally revealed at the end of the novel. The story is told in alternating chapters, shifting between the present and 1856, when the events involving the long-dead young woman took place. The best developed character is young James Weaver, who struggles with his family's philosophy of nonviolence and with the secrets he must keep. The historical sections flow together well, revealing aspects of Miz Lizbet's life, which in some ways resembles Harriet Tubman's. The Weavers use traditional Quaker speech, liberally sprinkled with thee and thou. The modern-day scenes are somewhat less successful, and some of the conversations among the young people are a bit contrived. Still, the book will make a nice addition to historical fiction collections about pre-Civil War events.?Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Gr. 7-10. Dana Shannon, 12, finds a skeleton in a small, secret room of her old house in Lawrence, Kansas. The body turns out to be the remains of Lizbet Charles, a conductor on the Underground Railroad who found shelter with the Quaker family living in that house about 140 years earlier. Ruby has clearly done her historical research, but she's thrown in far too much for one short novel. As the story swings back and forth between the 1850s and now, there are all kinds of contrivances and connections, including an old diary to provide commentary and a contemporary Vietnamese refugee to point out parallels. Virginia Hamilton's House of Dies Drear (1968), also about a kid today who discovers his house once sheltered runaway slaves, is far more compelling, focusing on a few people rather than trying to include a whole history of the times. Still, the core of Ruby's story is high drama: the courage of those who traveled, led, and provided shelter on the Underground Railroad. Hazel Rochman
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