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Summary
Summary
When you first walk into a room in a house, or into a stable, they have a way of telling you they know you're there. It ain't nothing particular noticeable, but the air inside of 'em changes like it's saying, "I'm watching you." But I'd got into this stable so quiet and sneakish that nothing knowed I'd cracked open the door, held my breath, and took a step inside.
Then I heard a humming sound so near that my blanged legs and breathing frozed up all over again. Whatever it was that was making that sound was so close that even my eyeballs locked where they were at. Then I started sliding my eyes off to the left. Someone had leaned some dark bundles or sacks up 'gainst the left hand side of the stable. There were five of 'em. The noise commenced again, sounding like someone fishing 'round trying to figure which song they were 'bout to hum.
It was one of the bundles It had four live, moving arms I couldn't believe I'd come all they way to the United States of America to see my first haint
Author Notes
Newbery Medal-winning children's book author Christopher Paul Curtis was born in Flint, Michigan on May 10, 1953 and graduated from The University of Michigan. While there he won the Avery and Jules Hopwood Prizes for poetry and a draft of one of his early books. Curtis spent thirteen years on an assembly line hanging car doors.
His story The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 received a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor, and Bud, Not Buddy became the first novel to win both of these awards. Elijah of Buxton received the 2008 Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and a Newbery Honor. Curtis also won the 2009 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Horn Book Review
Read by Mirron Willis. (Intermediate, Middle School)This audiobook version of the 2008 Coretta Scott King winner and Newbery Honor book should earn it many new and devoted fans. Curtis employs a first-person dialect to tell his story of gullible, "fra-gile" Elijah and his sometimes-funny, sometimes-fraught journey toward being "growned." The dialect that might be a challenge for some readers of the print edition is, as voiced by narrator Willis, completely enthralling, imbued as it is with humor, recurrent rhythms, and lively expressions. Willis gives a tour-de-force performance, inhabiting not only eleven-year-old Elijah -- the first child born in the pre-Civil War community of free blacks in Buxton, Ontario -- but also every other character, from the sibilantly sinister Preacher to the erudite Mr. Travis to the doomed fugitive slave, Mrs. Chloe. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-Set in 1860, 11-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway and freed slaves, in Christopher Paul Curtis's Newbery Honor book (Scholastic, 2007). When money that Elijah's friend has been saving to send to America to buy his family's freedom is stolen, Elijah crosses the border into Detroit on a dangerous mission to help recover it. Narrated by Elijah, the horrors of slavery are revealed. This engrossing tale is read by Mirron Willis who effortlessly varies his rich, textured voice to make each character unique. This story will captivate listeners.-Karen T. Bilton, Mary Jacobs Memorial Library, Rocky Hill, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He's best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled--a life from which he'll always be free, if he can find the courage to get back home. Christopher Paul Curtis's first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, was awarded both a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor. His second novel, Bud, Not Buddy, won the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award in 2000. He is also the author of the Golden KiteAward--winning Bucking the Sargeand, most recently, Mr. Chickee's Funny Moneyand Mr. Chickee's Messy Mission. These titles are all available on audio from Listening Library. Mirron Willis has appeared onstage in The Members, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Wild Oats, Daughters of the Revolution, The Belle's Stratagem, and A Raisin in the Sun, among many others. His numerous television and film credits include Monk, ER, 24, The Parkers, Star Trek®: Voyager, Fracture, and Independence Day. Excerpted from Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.