Mary E. Lyons is the author of many books for children and young adults, including Roy Makes a Car, Feed the Children First, Dear Ellen Bee, Letters from a Slave Girl, and Sorrow's Kitchen. She has received the Golden Kite Award and a Horn Book Fanfare for Letters from a Slave Girl, a 2005 Aesop Award for Roy Makes a Car, and a Carter G. Woodson Award for Sorrow's Kitchen. A teacher and former librarian, she lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. You can learn more about her at LyonsDenBooks.com.
Lyons ( Sorrow's Kitchen: The Life and Folklore of Zora Neale Hurston ) imaginatively recreates the experiences of a 19th-century slave--the early deaths of her parents; the unwanted attentions of her master; her liaison with a somewhat more beneficent white man; and her devotion to the children who ensue, which led her to run away--in this searing epistolary work, based on and faithful to Jacobs's 1861 autobiography. Before attaining her freedom Jacobs endured seven years of confinement in a relative's storeroom. These missives to departed friends and relations not only bear sorrowful witness to this numbing captivity--``Time,'' one letter begins, ``is a whisper I cantstet no apostrophe hear''--but also form an eloquent testament to her unfettered spirit and a powerful attestation to the suffering and resilience of thousands of African American women. Words, Lyons imagines Harriet writing in a moment of despair, are only ``poor silent beggars that cant tell how I feel''; but her words paint a portrait that is immediate indeed. Lyons concludes with a summary of the remainder of Jacobs's life and an illuminating note that details her own meticulous methods of investigation and reconstruction. This powerful book stirringly celebrates the strength of the human spirit. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
Gr 5-9-- Based on Harriet Jacobs's own autobiography, these so-called letters, written to lost relatives and friends, provide a microscopic look at what slavery meant for a young black female in the mid 1800s. The hope of freedom opens Harriet's story, as a dying mistress pledges to set the young slave free in her will. But broken promises abound in this slim volume. Harriet endures many hardships at the hands of her new owners and more struggles when she flees. Lost loves, sickness, motherly concerns for her two children and gentle observations on herself and those around her are combined with heavier comments on her slave condition. Thus, each letter pulsates with a rich vitality. The authentically re-created dialect is the book's strongest asset; readers will delight in phrases such as ``worry sticking to me like cockleburs.'' Although the letters end with Harriet's escape to the North, additional pages of straightforward biography complete the story. Readers will be fascinated with this opportunity to experience the day-to-day life of a girl caught up in the bonds of slavery. --Amy Nunley, Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, OH
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