Elijah of Buxton facts for kids
Author | Christopher Paul Curtis |
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Historical fiction |
Published | 2007, Scholastic |
Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
Pages | 341 |
Awards | Newbery Honor |
ISBN | 0-439-02344-0 |
OCLC | 86090238 |
LC Class | PZ7.C94137 El 2007 |
Followed by | The Madman of Piney Woods |
Elijah of Buxton is a children's novel written by Christopher Paul Curtis and published in 2007. The book won critical praise and was a Newbery Honor book and the winner of the Coretta Scott King Award. It also was a children's book bestseller
Summary
Elijah of Buxton is about an eleven-year-old boy, Elijah Freeman, who lives in Buxton, Canada. It was started as the Elgin Settlement, a refugee camp for African-American slaves who escaped via the Underground Railroad to gain freedom in Canada. Elijah is the first free-born child in the settlement, and has never lived under slavery. He has only heard of it. He goes into the United States to help stop a man from his settlement from stealing money from his friend, and learns there that it is a privilege to be free.
Awards
It has won a number of awards including a 2008 Newbery Honor, the 2008 Coretta Scott King Award, the 2008 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and the 2008 Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award