Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

1. Bibliography:
Curtis, Christopher Paul. 2008. Elijah of Buxton. Narrated by Mirron Willis. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. ISBN 0739370952
2. Plot Summary:
Twelve year old Elijah is the first freeborn child in the community of Buxton, Canada. He became infamous for throwing up on Frederick Douglas during a visit to his hometown. Elijah juggles schoolwork, chores, church and fishing while learning to become “grown”. When a friend’s hard earned money is stolen and taken to America, Elijah sets off on a mission to retrieve the money. Along the way, he deals with many traumatic events and learns about the realities of slavery his parents and friends were able to escape from.
3. Critical Analysis:
Vocabulary and dialogue play an important role in forming the authenticity of Elijah of Buxton. As a “fragile” boy growing up in a slavery free Canadian community, Elijah’s first person account allows the reader a glimpse of life as a freed slave. The main characters are simple and believable. Careful attention is paid to the clothing, food and shelter to make the story accurate. Curtis’s style of writing weaves humor and drama together is seamless fashion.
4. Awards and/or Review Excerpts:
• 2008 Newbery Honor
• 2008 Coretta Scott King Author Award
• 2008 Scott O'Dell Award
• From Booklist: Many readers drawn to the book by humor will find themselves at times on the edges of their seats in suspense and, at other moments, moved to tears.
5. Connections:
• Use as part of an author study on Christopher Paul Curtis. Curtis’ books The Watsons Go to Birmingham and Bud, Not Buddy have been nominated for multiple awards and make Curtis an excellent author to study with older elementary students.
• Use a part of a unit on African Americans and their triumph over slavery. Others stories, including Julius Lester's book, To Be a Slave, the picture book Almost to Freedom by Vuanda Micheaux Nelson or other novels like Jump Ship to Freedom by James and Christopher Collier.
6. Personal Response:
I listened to this book on a Playaway device. The Playaway is similar to a MP3 player, where the book is preloaded and the reader simply plugs in headphones and pushes play. The total listening time was nine hours, which was longer than it would have taken me to read the book myself. The speed of the reading could be increased, but made the narrator, Mirron Willis, very hard to understand. The book was fantastic. A very good portrayal of the time period and the accents used by Willis made the story even more authentic. While I didn’t care for the listening experience (too slow narration, ear buds hurt my ears) I did enjoy the book.