Elijah of Buxton

All of our Guided Reading books are realistic fiction based on the time period were civil rights weren't always given to everyone. Elijah of Buxton is the most engaging book about slavery and civil rights that I have ever read! I also think that that time period is a very interesting time in history to be reading about. The language that the people of Buxton use is sometimes incomprehensible, which makes it all the more fun to read and even lets us have a vocabulary page all about strange and unkown words. The language really tells you about the way they talked in the 1800's. Maybe, the people of Buxton talk like that because they were slaves as children and were never educated.
In Elijah of Buxton a "fra-gile" boy named Elijah has to overcome all of his fears. One night his best friend, Cooter, finds long, wiggly tracks through Mdeah's truck patch. The wacky man that everyone calls, "Preacher" says that they're from the dreaded hoop snake. The hoop snake will bite you, you swell up, and then you EXPLODE! Elijah came running, screaming home!(pg.6) Elijah's "Ma" was very firm with him and told him not to be so scared of everything. I think she could have been a little nicer to him.
But, all of the dynamics change when Mr. Frederick Douglass and John Brown come to town. They're considered famous in Buxton. Although Elijah never says it, I think he looks up to them, because they were fearless, something he wishes he was.
By:RL