THE SLAVE DANCER

Fox, Paula. The Slave Dancer. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1973.
ISBN: 1-4169-7139-4; $6.99 US; Paperback.
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AWARDS/HONORS/REVIEWS

Newbery Medal, 1974
Starred Review, School Library Journal: "Spellbinding...will horrify as well as fascinate."
Starred Review, Booklist: "Movingly and realistically presents one of the most gruesome chapters of history."
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

ANNOTATION

13-year old Jessie Bollier finds him kidnapped and thrown aboard a slave ship where his job is to provide music for the slaves.


BOOKTALK

"At midnight...I heard a sound as though a thousand rats were scrambling up the hull of The moonlight. I heard the cold dead clang of metal striking wood. I heard one piercing scream. My teeth began to chatter."

Such are the sounds heard on a slaver; a ship destined to make profit by transporting slaves from Africa to Cuba, and eventually The United States of America. Jessie Bollier dreams of New Orleans at night; his mother and sister why by now must think he is dead. But dreams are rudely shattered when Jessie must stand on deck and watch the crew whip the slaves into movement when he begins playing his fife.

Is this really what slavery is? How Africans are brought to America? If so, Jessie Bollier wants nothing to do with it. In horror, Jessie Bollier will leave his innocence in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and question what it means to be an American.

Sadness marks the journey of The Moonlight. Yet, a spark of hope is ignited that not even the ship's captain and his crew can contain. To understand what makes us human and long for freedom, pick up The Slave Dancer and forever be changed.