In the book, Clotee shares her feelings, experiences and thoughts about slavery. She describes her life on the plantation and talks about the Underground Railroad. I liked this book because it gave me a window onto the live of slaves in 1859. The details were very vivid. I also liked this book because it taught the lesson that if a person has a goal ad dream, he/she should go for it and they will reach it. Another reason that I liked this book is it showed me how terrible slavery was an how wrong it was. I recommend this book to any teenager who is studying the U.S. Civil War or slavery.
In 1859, 12 year old Clotee lives on the Belmont Plantation in Virginia, where she works in the "big house". She's used to hard work and obeying her master - except for one thing. Clotee teaches herself to read.
Through this diary that Clotee keeps, you follow her life, with her working and making friends, her thoughts about escaped slaves, her worries that her diary will be found, and her learning about abolitionists, who her master hates! When a teacher comes to the plantation to tutor the boy there, she finds out his secret. Can he help her?
This was a great, exciting book on a brave slave girl, and I'd recommend it for ages 10 - 14! I'd also recommend some other books on slavery, Letters from a Slave Girl, and I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly.
