Elijah of Buxton

Title: Elijah of Buxton
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Publisher: Scholastic Inc., 2007
Genre: Historical Fiction
Age Range: 3rd grade and up
Awards: Newberry Honor Book(2008)and Coretta Scott King Award(2008)

Summary: Eleven-year-old Elijah Buxton is the first free born child in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. Elijah is best known around the settlement as a “fra-gile” boy who is scared of snakes and talks to much. His other claim to fame is that he threw up on Frederick Douglass as a baby (gross, I know).

Elijah wishes that people could see him for his full potential-the best rock chunking and fish catching boy in the whole of Buxton. Elijah works hard to improve his “fra-gile” status throughout the book, and as fate would have it a rare opportunity arises in which Elijah could rid himself of his “fra-gile” title once and for all.

A former slave, the Right Reverend Zephariah W. Connerly the Third, cons Elijah’s friend, Mr. Leroy, out of all of the money he has been saving to buy his family out of slavery. Mr. Leroy “kidnaps” Elijah and takes him on a journey to the United States that will forever change his life. This poignant tale is a MUST read!

Response: Woo-wee! What a terrific book! No wonder this book was a Newberry Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Winner. Christopher Paul Curtis writes in way that will have the readers laughing along with his humor one moment and crying as the plot takes a heart wrenching twist in the next. The best word I can think of to describe this book is “inspiring,” and even that does not do it enough justice. This book opens the eyes of ALL readers to the reality of slavery. The reader experiences the horrors of slavery firsthand right along with Elijah. One of the most important and poignant aspects of the novel is that despite all of the horror experienced, Curtis manages to end the novel with a message of hope. This hope is what keeps the reader pondering and remembering long after the novel is finished.

Teaching Ideas: This would be a fantastic book to include in a unit on slavery. Just think of the important people, places, and ideas introduced in this text. From this text alone, students would be spurred to research Buxton (a REAL place-how cool is that!), the Underground Railroad, Reverend King, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown.


For other teaching ideas check out these websites:

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/book.jsp?id=4743 (Sound to Sea does a recreation of the Underground Railroad with kids in addition to A LOT of other cool things.)