BookTuesday: Across the Wide River
Today’s book is Across the Wide River by Stephanie Reed. It’s published by Kregel Publications, who provided a free copy of the book in exchange for the review.
This book is an historical fiction title, aimed at the teenage years. It’s based on a real family in the 1800s that worked toward the abolition of slavery by guiding slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. The family was (and is) real, though this book isn’t a chronicle of their actual work. Rather, it’s a novel inspired by them and by studying the real memoirs they left behind.
The plot line of the book is simple: Lowry Rankin is growing up with a father who is an abolitionist minister. As Lowry grows, his involvement with his father’s work grows, but eventually a boy becomes a man and has to begin making his own decisions. The work portrays a glimpse into the emotional wrestling that went into those decisions, as well as the personal sacrifices involved.
Admittedly, there is little intensive action in this book. However, Reed doesn’t claim to have written an action book. It’s a work to detail the horrors of slavery, even “good” slavery, and the willingness of some to look away for the sake of their own wealth. She has put together a book to challenge the reader to think about whether you would look away or delve into the sacrifice necessary.
While this book was published back in 2004, I find that it remains a timely read. The world constantly brings new challenges, but the choices that children and teenagers will have to make now and into adulthood reflect Lowry’s dilemmas: how much will I have to sacrifice? Am I willing to do this? What if I never know if it did any good?
This book leaves me with these questions, and will hopefully challenge others the same way.
Doug
The author, Stephanie Reed, was kind enough to stop by and leave the comment below. I thought I'd highlight the link she left for sample chapters of this book and its sequel: http://bit.ly/rdRKvp
Thanks for taking the time to read! Doug Hibbard