| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
"Take up the pipe, Claudius," a voice growled near Jessie's bound head. "He's worth nothing without his pipe!"
Snatched from the docks of New Orleans, thirteen-year-old Jessie is thrown aboard a slave ship where he must play his fife so that captured slaves will "dance," to keep their muscles strong and their bodies profitable for their owners' use.
Jessie is sickened as he witnesses the horrible practices of the slave trade. But even those horrors can't compare to the one final event awaiting Jessie's witness. Can the cruelty to his fellow human beings be stopped? And will it be too late when it finally does stop?
In a stunning performance by Peter MacNicol, Paula Fox's enduring classic comes magnificently alive, with the seating truth about a period of American history we would otherwise most likely wish to forget.
Snatched from the docks of New Orleans, thirteen-year-old Jessie is thrown aboard a slave ship where he must play his fife so that captured slaves will "dance," to keep their muscles strong and their bodies profitable for their owners' use.
Jessie is sickened as he witnesses the horrible practices of the slave trade. But even those horrors can't compare to the one final event awaiting Jessie's witness. Can the cruelty to his fellow human beings be stopped? And will it be too late when it finally does stop?
In a stunning performance by Peter MacNicol, Paula Fox's enduring classic comes magnificently alive, with the seating truth about a period of American history we would otherwise most likely wish to forget.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read Slave Dancer to my 9 and 11 year old sons. I selected it because it was a Newbery award winner and I wanted to read a book about slavery. Oh My, although we did read the whole book it was outrageous. It was too horrifying and it made my kids feel sick. I tried to explain that by being aware of the atrocities in life we can change the world and do things better. That still didn't help. It was a vivid description of the inhumane ways Africans were kept on slaveships. I can't believe this book won an award ! I wish I had read it first before reading it aloud. Beware ! Possibly older children could handle this author's delivery of the subject, but not the young ones !
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read this book because it was a possible selection for a 7th grade language arts class that I was working with. I know that there are better things that children could be reading. I thought that the story was very disjointed and contrived. It was as though someone said "Hmmm...we need a book that we can sell to schools to use in their literature or social studies programs. It should tell a little bit about the horrors of slavery, have some action, and hint at atrocities and perversity. It doesn't have to be especially well-written, and, oh, by the way, keep it around 120 pages." I would be embarrassed to read this to my kids because they might ask me why we were reading such junk. I'd hate to try to explain some of the plot and characterization irregularities. Some parts of this book were simply prurient. We need to teach kids history, but we need to do it in a responsible manner. I'm glad some of the kids above found it boring. Hopefully they weren't paying enough attention to have much of this drivel stick in their minds. Shame on the author and anyone who granted it any kind of award.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Jessie Bollier, a fourteen year old boy, is heard playing his fife in an American market and is kidnapped by a man named Claudius. He is told he is going on a ship that is sailing from America to Africa to trade gold, guns, and other weapons for African slaves. On the ship he is forced to do daily tasks such as washing the deck and cleaning his crewmates quarters. He is also to play his fife for the slaves, once they come on board. This will make them dance in their shackles for exercise.
On the way to the island where they will be picking up the slaves, the crew encounters a ship that is trying to prevent them from picking up the slaves. Overnight they notice that the look-out on the other ship leaves his post and doesn't come back for over ten minutes so they send the first canoe acrost. Once the slaves board the larger ship the crewmates fill the canoe with old partially rusted guns. When they had completed their misson, over one hundred slaves were on the ship.
On the journey to America, they have to go off course to purchase supplies. When they set off again, a few of the slaves died Then the crew and slaves started to go blind. The only two people that were unaffected by the disease were Jessie and a slave boy named Ras.The blind captain and Jessie navagate the ship but neither notice the storm generating ahead. By the time Jessie notices, it is too late. The winds were picking up speed and the waves were getting larger. The ship finally capsized...
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
