Friend on Freedom River
Written by: Gloria Whelan
Illustrated by: Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen
Published in 2004 by Sleeping Bear Press in Michigan
Genre: Historical Fiction (Multicultural Work)
Ages: Grades 3-5
Summary: A boy named Louis takes care of the farm while his father is away working in the logging camps. One night, as Louis is tying up his boat, he hears a noise in the bushes and finds three runaway slaves there--a mother and her son and daughter. The river on which Louis was tying his boat is the last thing they must cross in order to be in the free land of Canada, but it is a very cold night and dangerous to cross the river. Despite the danger of the police, which are just as dangerous to Louis as to the slaves, he decides to do what his father would, and help take the slaves to freedom over what would come to be called "Freedom River."
Response: I must admit that the pictures in this work where what drew me to it. They truly are remarkable! The emotion on the faces of these people depict the pain and fright they must feel. The colors are mostly dark since they traveled at night, but in addition to browns and blacks, a lot of oranges are used in this work. Every picture in this work is a double-page spread of watercolor art. The textures that Mr. Frankenhuyzen places in this work make readers want to reach onto the page and touch them. The one thing I was disappointed in was the depiction of Louis. There is just something about his face that did not seem quite right to me, but I cannot determine what exactly it is. Overall, though, the illustrations were remarkable.
Gloria Whelan's text in this work really makes readers feel as thought they are experiencing the fear of crossing this fog-covered dangerous river along with these individuals. One can almost hear the song the mother sings as they depart from the US shore about keeping them safe through their journey. One thing I learned from this book was that there were specific questions a white person could ask if he thought he was in the presence of slaves. This question and response session would tell the slaves they were in the company of friends. The white man would say: "What do you seek?" and the reply would be "Freedom." They he would ask: "Have you got faith?" and the answer would be "I have hope." Before reading this work, I never knew about those two questions helping slaves know to not be afraid of certain people. I also never knew about Freedom River until I read this book. I thought it was a refreshing change to hear about others helping slaves besides the traditional story of Harriet Tubman.
One of the most interesting quotes from this work is "Darkness is just daylight turned inside out." I think those words speak volumes. The quote really has less to do with the slaves and is more about the boy becoming more like his father, but the image that statement provides is vivid. It makes nighttime less frightening if one sees it in such a way, but I have never thought of night like that before!
Teaching Connections: I would have students write a song about escaping from slavery and completing their frightening journey. Students could use the song that the slave mother, Sarah, sings on page 32 of the work as an example.
Another idea is to have students continue the story. the teacher could facilitate this writing assignment on the overhead. Students could give ideas of what they think happens to Sarah and her children after they reach the safe house and whether Louis visits them the next summer as he promised and what he finds then doing if he returns. Then, the class could vote on which direction the story should flow based on those ideas.
Written by: Gloria Whelan
Illustrated by: Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen
Published in 2004 by Sleeping Bear Press in Michigan
Genre: Historical Fiction (Multicultural Work)
Ages: Grades 3-5
Summary: A boy named Louis takes care of the farm while his father is away working in the logging camps. One night, as Louis is tying up his boat, he hears a noise in the bushes and finds three runaway slaves there--a mother and her son and daughter. The river on which Louis was tying his boat is the last thing they must cross in order to be in the free land of Canada, but it is a very cold night and dangerous to cross the river. Despite the danger of the police, which are just as dangerous to Louis as to the slaves, he decides to do what his father would, and help take the slaves to freedom over what would come to be called "Freedom River."
Response: I must admit that the pictures in this work where what drew me to it. They truly are remarkable! The emotion on the faces of these people depict the pain and fright they must feel. The colors are mostly dark since they traveled at night, but in addition to browns and blacks, a lot of oranges are used in this work. Every picture in this work is a double-page spread of watercolor art. The textures that Mr. Frankenhuyzen places in this work make readers want to reach onto the page and touch them. The one thing I was disappointed in was the depiction of Louis. There is just something about his face that did not seem quite right to me, but I cannot determine what exactly it is. Overall, though, the illustrations were remarkable.
Gloria Whelan's text in this work really makes readers feel as thought they are experiencing the fear of crossing this fog-covered dangerous river along with these individuals. One can almost hear the song the mother sings as they depart from the US shore about keeping them safe through their journey. One thing I learned from this book was that there were specific questions a white person could ask if he thought he was in the presence of slaves. This question and response session would tell the slaves they were in the company of friends. The white man would say: "What do you seek?" and the reply would be "Freedom." They he would ask: "Have you got faith?" and the answer would be "I have hope." Before reading this work, I never knew about those two questions helping slaves know to not be afraid of certain people. I also never knew about Freedom River until I read this book. I thought it was a refreshing change to hear about others helping slaves besides the traditional story of Harriet Tubman.
One of the most interesting quotes from this work is "Darkness is just daylight turned inside out." I think those words speak volumes. The quote really has less to do with the slaves and is more about the boy becoming more like his father, but the image that statement provides is vivid. It makes nighttime less frightening if one sees it in such a way, but I have never thought of night like that before!
Teaching Connections: I would have students write a song about escaping from slavery and completing their frightening journey. Students could use the song that the slave mother, Sarah, sings on page 32 of the work as an example.
Another idea is to have students continue the story. the teacher could facilitate this writing assignment on the overhead. Students could give ideas of what they think happens to Sarah and her children after they reach the safe house and whether Louis visits them the next summer as he promised and what he finds then doing if he returns. Then, the class could vote on which direction the story should flow based on those ideas.
(Image retrieved from http://www.embracingthechild.org/bsfriendfreedom.jpg on 4 April 2008)
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