Book Descriptions
for Anthony Burns by Virginia Hamilton
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Two kinds of historical reconstruction are interwoven in a carefully written account of Anthony Burns' 1854 Boston trial based on the controversial federal Fugitive Slave Act. Documented from primary sources, the biographical portions concerning Burns' imprisonment and trial are interspersed with innovative fictional segments illuminating his youth as an enslaved child in Virginia. Source notes, a list of persons in the book, excerpts from the Fugitive Slave Act and the author's comments further increase the value of this unique book. Honor Book, 1988 CCBC Newbery Discussion. (Age 12 and older)
CCBC Choices 1988. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1988. Used with permission.
From The Jane Addams Children's Book Award
Two kinds of historical reconstruction are interwoven in a carefully written account of Anthony Burns' 1854 Boston trial based on the controversial federal Fugitive Slave Act. Documented from primary sources, the biographical portions concerning Burns' imprisonment and trial are interspersed with innovative fictional segments illuminating his youth as an enslaved child in Virginia. Source notes, a list of persons in the book, excerpts from the Fugitive Slave Act and the author's comments further increase the value of this unique book.
The Jane Addams Children's Book Award: Honoring Peace and Social Justice in Children's Books Since 1953. © Scarecrow Press, 2013. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
Now in Laurel-Leaf, Virginia Hamilton's powerful true account of the sensational trial of a fugitive slave.
The year is 1854, and Anthony Burns, a 20-year-old Virginia slave, has escaped to Boston. But according to the Fugitive Slave Act, a runaway can be captured in any free state, and Anthony is soon imprisoned. The antislavery forces in Massachusetts are outraged, but the federal government backs the Fugitive Slave Act, sparking riots in Boston and fueling the Abolitionist movement.
Written with all the novelistic skill that has won her every major award in children's literature, Virginia Hamilton's important work of nonfiction puts young readers into the mind of Burns himself.
The year is 1854, and Anthony Burns, a 20-year-old Virginia slave, has escaped to Boston. But according to the Fugitive Slave Act, a runaway can be captured in any free state, and Anthony is soon imprisoned. The antislavery forces in Massachusetts are outraged, but the federal government backs the Fugitive Slave Act, sparking riots in Boston and fueling the Abolitionist movement.
Written with all the novelistic skill that has won her every major award in children's literature, Virginia Hamilton's important work of nonfiction puts young readers into the mind of Burns himself.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.
