In 1859 twelve-year-old Clotee, a house slave who must conceal the fact that she can read and write, records in her diary her experiences and her struggle to decide whether to escape to freedom.

Overall this was an engaging book. It was hard to get a sense of Clotee's age. Having heard this as an audiobook, I may have misunderstood that she was 7 years old (explains why her job was fanning). Some of her thoughts and actions seem much older. The fact that it was a diary made me imagine some descendant finding her journal and connecting with this history.
The author's use of the 'picture' analogy seemed a little heavy handed: the number of times Clotee talks about not being able to picture freedom. This might be relevant for someone who is very visually oriented, but it implies that one cannot imagine abstract concepts. ( )

I don't remember much of these books as individual books, but I remember reading them all as a young, avid reader. I think that ultimately these books are the reason why I love historical fiction novels so much. They all did such a great job of taking me to a different time and place and making it come alive, seeing the world through an older, historical lens. I highly recommend any of the Dear America books to younger readers who love history and need to get hooked on reading! ( )

This book is about her journey through slavery.

This is a book I would use with 4th and 5th graders due to the vocabulary of the book and the content it hold. The book does touch on death and "punishment" of the slaves. However, the overall message of the book is much more powerful than that. The book is about a young girl who loves to learn and finally realizes the meaning of life. There are multiple ways we could use this book. I would most likely have children read a chapter of it a day. Sometimes with me, sometimes independently, or sometimes with a reading tape. I would use the book as a Segway into talking about which amendments actually freed the slaves and gave them their freedom that Cl;otee is so desperate to find. We could also use this book while talking about the civil war, and the civil rights movement. This is because all of these things gave people who were once slaves the freedome that Clotee learns about throughout the book.