Bibliographic Information
Curtis, C.P. (2007). Elijah of Buxton. New York: Scholastic Press.
Summary
Elijah Buxton is an eleven year old boy that lives in the Elgin Settlement at Raleigh in Canada West. The settlers refer to this as the town of Buxton. The story takes place in the 1860’s. Elijah was the first child in the settlement that was born free. The story is based on a true historical site called Buxton that was established in 1849 by a white minister named Reverend William King and fifteen slaves and six escaped slaves.
In the story, one of the escaped slaves (Mr. Leroy) has been working for years clearing land for the town. He is given several hundred dollars to help in his endeavor to buy his family out of slavery. Mr. Leroy cannot go get his family himself, because he will probably be caught and put back into slavery himself. So, he hires another man (Preacher), whom Elijah has recommended, to do the job. Elijah’s dad does not trust Preacher and begs Mr. Leroy to take another man along. Preacher ends up shooting the other man and running off with the money. Elijah feels responsible for all the problems with Mr. Leroy’s money because he is the one that said Preacher was an honest man. When Elijah really thought about how many lies and tricks Preacher had actually played on him as well as other townspeople, he should have spoken up and said that Preacher was not an honest man after all. Mr. Leroy and Elijah take off after Preacher, but Mr. Leroy dies of a heart attack just as they get to the town that Preacher has last been in. Elijah decides that he will find Preacher anyway and will get the money back because he just can’t believe that Preacher would be so dishonest. On his search for Preacher, he enters a dark, broken down barn and discovers his own worst nightmare. Although he has spent his life listening to his parents and the other townspeople speaking of the horrors of slavery, Elijah thought that it was mostly exaggerated tales until he entered that barn. In the barn, he found a woman with a small child, her husband and two African men and one African boy a little younger than himself. These six slaves had been attempting to cross into Ontario in order to be free. They were just about an hour from the border when they had been recaptured, chained and thrown into the barn. They had not been fed, nor had they had any water. Elijah tried desperately to help them escape and came up with some great plans, but to no avail. Elijah also found Preacher hanging in the barn. He had been beaten to death and had the money that he stole, stolen from him. The only way that Elijah could help these poor slaves was to leave them Preacher’s revolver with six shots. The reader is left imagining that the woman is either going to kill the slavers or that she is going to kill her husband, the other slaves, and herself as a release from slavery. The woman gives her baby girl to Elijah for him to take back to Buxton so that the baby can grow up free. When Elijah crosses the river and is back in Canada, he makes plans for the baby girl’s future.
Impressions
The story is full of humor. Anyone that is afraid of snakes will love the opening chapter and will thoroughly enjoy reading about Elijah’s fear of snakes and the irrational ways that his parents try to help him get over the fear. At times, Elijah is very responsible for his age. He goes to school, and although he isn’t one of the brightest, he does value his education. He also works every afternoon in the livery stable and often helps Mr. Leroy clear land. But there are glimpses of his youth throughout the story, too, such as the tricks he plays on his mom to supposedly help her get over her fear of frogs, and the whopping lies he writes when he decides to run away and help Mr. Leroy find Preacher. Elijah grows up drastically in the end of the book. The horrors he faces in the barn force him to become more mature. The last chapter of the book is so sad. The mother and father kissing their baby goodbye and telling her to have a better life was very touching.
Review
Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman is known for two things: being the first child born free in Buxton, Canada, and throwing up on the great Frederick Douglass. It’s 1859, in Buxton, a settlement for slaves making it to freedom in Canada, a setting so thoroughly evoked, with characters so real, that readers will live the story, not just read it. This is not a zip-ahead-and-see-what-happens-next novel. It’s for settling into and savoring the rich, masterful storytelling, for getting to know Elijah, Cooter and the Preacher, for laughing at stories of hoop snakes, toady-frogs and fish-head chunking and crying when Leroy finally gets money to buy back his wife and children, but has the money stolen. Then Elijah journeys to America and risks his life to do what’s right. This is Curtis’s best novel yet, and no doubt many readers, young and old, will finish and say, “This is one of the best books I have ever read.” (author’s note) (Fiction. 9+)
(2007, August 15). [Review of Elijah of Buxton]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/childrens-books/christopher-paul-curtis/elijah-of-buxton/?spdy=2007
Library Use
This book could be used as an introduction to historical fiction, as well as in a study of slavery for middle school or high school students.
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