For children interested in understanding the challenging realities of history and their own identity, this book offers a profound time-travel journey into the past, exploring resilience and justice.
A parent might reach for this book when their child dismisses family history as boring or irrelevant. This powerful novel follows Blanche, a modern African American girl who is magically transported back to 1853 and forced into slavery. She must learn to survive in a brutal world that denies her identity and freedom. The story directly confronts themes of racism, resilience, and the search for self. For ages 9 to 13, this book is a challenging but essential read. It offers a visceral, personal connection to the past, helping children understand the deep roots of their heritage and the importance of remembering.
Deals with loss of freedom, family separation, and the brutality of life under slavery.
Scary ScenesModerate
Moments of peril, capture, and escape attempts create sustained tension and fear.
Sensitive Topics
The book's approach to slavery is direct, historical, and unflinching. It does not use metaphor. The narrative depicts the physical violence, emotional abuse, and systemic dehumanization inherent in the institution. The resolution is hopeful for the protagonist, as she returns to her own time, but it is realistic about the bleakness of the past she leaves behind. The approach is secular.
Ideal Reader
A mature reader aged 10-13 who is ready to engage with difficult historical truths. It's particularly potent for a child who, like the protagonist, feels disconnected from their heritage or finds history lessons abstract and boring. This book makes the past terrifyingly concrete.
Parent Prep
Parents should pre-read this book. It contains direct descriptions of the brutality of slavery, including whippings, constant threats, and the emotional trauma of family separation. Parents should be prepared to provide historical context and discuss the difficult scenes with their child. The book is an excellent conversation starter but is too intense to be read without support. The parent hears their child say something like, "Why do we have to learn about slavery again? It was so long ago," or observes a general lack of interest or respect for their family's history and the struggles of their ancestors.
Age Experience
A younger reader (9-10) will likely focus on the adventure and survival aspects: the terror of being trapped, the injustice, and Boy's attempts to navigate her new reality. An older reader (11-13) will be better equipped to understand the deeper thematic elements: the psychological impact of dehumanization, the complexities of resistance, and the connection between historical trauma and modern identity.
What Makes It Special
Unlike many historical fiction novels, this book uses the time-travel device to create a stark, immediate contrast between a modern child's perspective and the brutal reality of the past. This makes the horror of slavery personal and visceral for contemporary readers in a way that a standard historical narrative might not. The protagonist's initial apathy makes her eventual transformation especially powerful.
Read plot summary
Blanche, a contemporary Black girl nicknamed Boy, is frustrated with her family's focus on their ancestral history of enslavement. While holding a dowsing rod on a family trip, she is transported back in time to North Carolina in 1853. Immediately captured and mistaken for a runaway slave, she is forced to live the life she had previously dismissed. She must navigate the horrors, dangers, and daily realities of slavery while trying to find a way back to her own time, gaining a profound and painful understanding of her heritage.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.
Discussion Prompts
1
At the start, Blanche is annoyed by her family's stories about "old slave-timey stuff." How does her attitude change after she travels to the past? Why do you think she felt that way initially?
2
Blanche is given the name "Boy" and is forbidden from using her real name. How does this name change affect her identity and how she sees herself?
3
Blanche has knowledge from the future, but it often doesn't help her and sometimes puts her in danger. Can you think of a time when her modern knowledge was a disadvantage?
4
After returning, Blanche has a new appreciation for her family and her history. What specific lessons about strength and resilience do you think she learned from the people she met in 1853?
5
How did reading about Blanche's firsthand experience change your own understanding of what it might have been like to be enslaved?
