My America: Freedom's Wings: Corey's Diary, Kentucky to Ohio, 1857

by Sharon Dennis Wyeth

Hardcover, 2001

Status

Check shelf

Call number

J DA 1857 KY/OH

Publication

Scholastic Inc. (2001), Edition: First Edition, 112 pages

Description

A nine-year-old slave keeps a diary of his journey to freedom along the Underground Railroad in 1857.

Local notes

2302-121

User reviews

LibraryThing member Bianca_Knight

This book is the diary of a young slave boy who family lives on a plantation in the Kentucky. Corey's father teaches him to read and write despite the master warning him not. Corey keeps a diary as a way of telling whats going on in his life, as well as a way of practicing his reading and writing.

Corey and his dad share a passion for birds. One day his dad runs away heading north looking for his freedom. Corey mom is afraid at first to try and escape, but once a white man apart of the underground railroad confidence her that her husband is up north wait on her and Corey she finally agrees. Throughout the book Corey tells about the different encounters face on their journey up North. The family is finally reunion after many long months of traveling north looking for his father.
This book can be use to teach about the underground railroad and how black would not have been able to escape to freedom without he help of many people, including white. It is big misleading fact that all whites were for slavery and that they did not help blacks "steal" their freedom. I think that his book is a great book to read and ask students to start keeping a diary of their everyday live experiences.
This was an easy read that I enjoyed reading. Although this book is fiction it provides a lot of great details about what live was like for slaves in the 1800's. The author did a great job at making this book seem like reality. The underground railroad was a major part of African American history and allowing to students to learn more about it then what the history books tell them is a great opportunity for them.

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LibraryThing member cclark37

Summary: "Freedom Wings" is the first book in a series about a young boy's journey through the underground railroad. Corey and his family are forced to flee a Kentucky plantation and head towards the underground railroad. They are fed up with slavery and will do anything to insure this isn't the

life they will live forever.
Review: While fiction, I really thought "Freedom's Wings" presented a powerful take on slavery and the underground railroad. The main character, Corey, is nine years old. He writes this diary to document his family's escape from their plantation. What I really liked about this book in particular, was the broken English used throughout Corey's diary. This provided an authentic document for me.

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LibraryThing member jbaile14

Summary:This book is about a young slave named Corey Birdsong. In this book, the reader finds out information by reading Corey’s daily journal entries. During this book, Corey learns to read and write from his father. However, Corey’s owners treat his family very poorly. His dad and his dad’s

friends are the first slaves who try to run away. Consequently, his dads friend did not make it and was brought back to the family who owned him. While this was going on, Corey barley wrote any entires because he thought no one would be able to read it. However, he did try to teach his friend how to read and write during this time. Then one day, Corey and his mom decided they needed to escape. However, Corey’s mom is pregnant which makes the journey harder for them. It describes how careful they must be and it describes all the characters they meet along the way who help them out. Eventually, Corey is separated from his mom, but he later finds his dad. Together, they go back for his mom and discover that he has a new sister. The family makes the journey into Canada, where they are finally free.

Review: The main message of this book was to inform the readers on the hard life slaves had and to describe why we should not take our freedom for granted. This book describes how hard it was for Corey and his family to find freedom. It also claimed that if slaves were found trying to run away, they would be beat by their masters. The author does a good job describing the emotions that must have been running through slaves heads as they were trying to run away. For example, at one point Corey claimed he was, "full of worry" (84) for his mama and daddy. By reading Corey's thoughts and following him on his journey, the author is pointing out how valuable our freedom is. At one point in time, not everyone was free. Therefore, we should not take our freedom for granted.

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LibraryThing member may_tay_kay

I liked the book "My America: Freedom's Wing's" by Sharon Dennis Wyeth. I liked the diary style of writing. It gave the book a unique point of view. Additionally, I liked the action in the plot. Because the point of view is from a boy the plot is protrayed in an interesting way. The big idea of

this book is about slavery and the underground railroad.

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LibraryThing member wichitafriendsschool

As part of the relaunch of the My America series, Sharon Dennis Wyeth introduces readers to Corey Birdsong, a slave boy in antebellum Kentucky. This is the story of his family's attempt to escape.Corey Birdsong is a lively young boy in search of freedom in the same country that made an economy of

slavery. He and his family are owned by the Hart family of Kentucky. But, when Corey's father, Roland, flees to the North and Corey and his mother follow.Corey records his daily life on the Hart farm with incredible insight and honesty, and later he describes the difficult journey along the "Underground Railroad" to the North to be reunited with his father. With the help of many kind strangers, Corey, his parents, and his new baby sister arrive afely in Canada.

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