Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in Atlanta in 1947, Coleman's (Born in Sin) novel looks at charged emotions in the segregated South. Twelve-year-old Clyde lives in the "mill village," where his mother works long hours to support their family. Clyde looks forward to letters from his older brother Joseph, a WWII marine who is a guard on the Freedom Train, which is carrying the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and other significant documents on a nationwide tour. William, an African-American boy who's adept with a slingshot, rescues Clyde from a pummeling by the class bully; initially conflicted about befriending William, Clyde realizes that he doesn't want to be someone "who don't want to speak up when something ain't right." Coleman convincingly depicts Clyde's gradual awakening to the racism that surrounds him, as well as the prejudice his impoverished family faces ("People kept staring at us like we was the monkeys at a show," Clyde thinks when his father treats them to tea at a fancy department store restaurant). Despite the book's somewhat sluggish pace, historically minded readers should enjoy this snapshot of America's past. Ages 8-12. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Twelve-year-old Clyde lives on the poor-white side of the tracks in 1947 segregated Atlanta. His brother is a guard for the Freedom Train, carrying the Declaration of Independence around the country. After an African American boy helps save him from bullies, he begins to question the racial myths he's been taught. The message is didactically related, but the story is engaging. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Clyde Thompson may be the shortest 12-year-old in seventh grade, but he learns to stand tall in this story about the Freedom Train's arrival in Atlanta in 1949. The train is traveling the country to bring the great freedom documents--the Gettysburg Address, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights--to the American people. Clyde's older brother Joseph is a guard on the train and has befriended a black man named W.C. Lounds, though Clyde says, "I ain't never heard of a colored man being a white man's best friend." Clyde's own new friendship with an African-American boy named William Dobbs puts him in the middle of racial tensions in his city, but the courage of William, the example of Joseph and the spirit of freedom represented by the Freedom Train empower Clyde to do the right thing when necessary. The novel is heavy-handed and self-consciously inspirational, but it's a fine story of a moment in history when times were changing and the Freedom Train reminded Americans of their better selves. (author's historical note) (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
