BOOK REVIEW: THE OTHER SIDE OF FREE by Krista Russell

 

Welcome to Marvelous Middle Grade Monday (MMGM), a weekly event hosted by author 

Shannon Messenger. For a list of other MMGM posts, click HERE. 

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THE OTHER SIDE OF FREE
Krista Russell
Peachtree Publishers
Ages 8 - 12
256 pp.

It is 1739. Young Jem has been rescued from slavery and finds himself at Fort Mose, a settlement in Florida run by the Spanish. He is in the custody of an ornery and damaged woman named Phaedra, who dictates his every move. When Jem sets out to break free of her will, an adventure begins in which Jem saves a baby owl, a pair of runaway slaves, and, eventually, maybe all the residents of Fort Mose.

While Jem and the other characters are fictitious, the story is based on historical record. Fort Mose was the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what is now the United States. In 1994 the site was designated a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2009, the National Park Service named Fort Mose a precursor site on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

MY REVIEW: 

Jem's story details an obscure event in American history, the first free African society on American soil, a generation before the Revolutionary War. This book is a must read. The characters are all so vivid and real. I loved Jem and his efforts to raise a wounded baby owl. And learning about the slave uprising in the North that motivated so many to travel to Fort Mose and toward freedom was simply inspiring.  The Other Side of Free is beautifully written, yet simple enough for readers as young as 8 or 9 to read on their own, and would make the perfect addition to any American History or Black American History curriculum.

CONTENT RATING:

Violence:  Moderate
Profanity:  None
Sexuality:  None