Product Description

The Liberty Letters™ seres explores the lives of teens that courageously lived out their faith in challenging times. Written in letter form, the correspondence between two girls will tell how God works through ordinary people in extraordinary times.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1475715 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From Booklist
Gr. 4-7. When Hannah Brown, the granddaughter of an abolitionist in slave-holding Northern Virginia, begins corresponding with Sarah Smith, a girl who attended boarding school near Hannah's farm but has returned home to Pennsylvania, Hannah discusses her reservations about her grandfather's abolitionist activities. Sarah, whose parents are Underground Railroad "conductors" in Pennsylvania, gently encourages Hannah to rethink her beliefs, and gradually Hannah becomes involved in the abolitionist cause. Together, the two Quaker girls assist a South Carolina slave family to escape to Canada. While the family hides in Hannah's barn, Hannah teaches the daughter to read and write, which saves the slave girl's life en route. Characterizations are thin and the girls' voices sound too similar, but background details are plentiful, and children will come away with a general sense of the abolition movement. Steer those who want more to Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad (2003) by Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan and to Doreen Rappaport's No More! Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance (2002), which better demonstrate the role of the African Americans themselves. Shelley Townsend-Hudson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover
The Liberty Letters™ series explores the lives of teens that courageously lived out their faith and commitment to God in challenging times. Using letters between good friends to tell the story, the series reveals the power of friendship, courage, ingenuity, and faith to make a difference in the key events of U.S. history.

In this book, two Quaker girls, Hannah Brown, granddaughter of the most active abolitionist in slave-holding Northern Virginia, corresponds with Sarah Smith, daughter of "conductors" on the Underground Railroad in the free state of Pennsylvania. Together, the girls assist a runaway South Carolina slave family on their perilous trip from Virginia to Canada on the "freedom train."

Liberty Letters™ is a tribute to America’s foundation of faith and freedom. And now, a new generation can experience history as they discover how God works through ordinary people in extraordinary times.

Through imaginative and innovative products, Zonderkidz is feeding young souls.

About the Author
Nancy LeSourd is an author, attorney, wife, and mother of two, who lives in the Washington D. C. area. She has a B. A. in political science from Agnes Scott College, a M.A. from Tufts University in secondary education with an emphasis on American History, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. A William Robertson Coe fellow in American history, she taught American history to middle and high school students.

Customer Reviews

Good historical fiction in a unique format.
This book is written in the form of letters between Hannah Brown and Sarah Smith, two young teenaged Quaker girls, from 1857 to 1859. Both Hannah and Sarah come from strong abolitionist families, and became close friends while Sarah attended a Quaker school in Hannah's hometown of Goose Creek, Virginia. When Sarah returned to Philadelphia, the girls began a regular correspondence. Hannah's grandfather is an active abolitionist who has helped many slaves escape along the Underground Railroad, and now that Hannah is old enough, he wants her help. While Hannah believes slaves have the right to be free, she is at first reluctant to risk her safety and that of her family. However, her experiences and her faith lead her to become an active participant in the Underground Railroad, after she meets a young slave girl of her own age, Pearl, who is trying to reach freedom in Canada. Pearl has never known freedom, and after her brother was sold away and her mother died, she and her father escaped, but had to leave Pearl's little sister behind. Hannah becomes determined to help Pearl and her family reunite and reach freedom in Canada.

Young girls who enjoy historical fiction will most likely enjoy this book, especially if they enjoy series such as Dear America. However, this book did have some flaws, particularly that the characters were not all that developed. However, I enjoyed the unique letter format, and the historical details about life in the 1850s.

History made Easy
I thought I wouldn't like this. I've read Christian history fiction and found it dry. But this engaged my attention. As a former teacher, I wish I had had this series to use when my pupil ho-hummed about history.