Elijah of Buxton

Elijah has a good life in Buxton, the Canadian settlement that is a refuge for runaway slaves and their children. He and his best friend, Cooter, go to school, attend church, do chores and think up elaborate pranks, such as putting a huge "toady-frog" in his mother's knitting bag. Of course, sometimes the pranks get turned on them. Elijah's mother is able to exact revenge; a town visitor known as the Right Reverend Deacon Doctor Zephariah Connerly the Third, or "the Preacher," preys on Elijah's fear of snakes with wild tales about vicious rolling hoop snakes.

The truth is, Elijah is sensitive. His mother calls him "fra-gile." Riding horses terrifies him, and it doesn't take much for him to cry. When he practices his special skill of killing fish by throwing rocks at them, the Preacher easily talks him out of much of his catch. Elijah's sensitivity is put to the test when he must deliver sad news to a neighbor. Will he be able to fully realize what the moment means while not breaking down?

The story takes another deeper, darker turn when one freed slave sends a man to buy his family's freedom. When the situation goes awry, Elijah finds himself on a quest to set things right. In his attempt, he faces devastating circumstances and decisions. His actions will prove his mettle. Is he up to the task, or is he too fragile to cope?

Elijah's coming-of-age story is a powerful page-turner, full of humor, adventure, heartbreaking sorrow and buoyant promise. It also introduces the reader to a fascinating (and little known) time and place in our history. Loose threads are not woven together into a tidy ending, yet the climax serves up a satisfying uplift of hope and triumph.

There are storytellers, and then there are Storytellers; it's no surprise that Christopher Paul Curtis, winner of numerous awards for his fiction (including the prestigious Newbery Medal), qualifies for that capital letter. It is, as always, an honor and a pleasure to lose oneself in one more mesmerizing tale from him.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

This book is required reading for my rising 6th grader. Even though she is an advanced language arts student, she found the slang difficult to read and understand. Definitely not a book she enjoyed reading and would have never finished if it was not required for school. When asked about the book, she instantly focuses on the difficulty of reading the slang and the actual story is secondary.

The thing I didn't like about Elijah of Buxton is that I was having trouble with the slang... I understand that it added kind of a uniqeness to the book, but what's the use if you can't even READ the book? So that was a little bit bothersome. And also, there's not as much dialogue, (which for my prefrance, I enjoy lots of dialogue) and Elijah sometimes rambles a little bit throughout the book, which can sometimes get boring and endless.
I had to read this book for book club, and I ended up just skimming it, because I just really didn't like it... This is only my opinion. The one good thing about the book though, is that it's religious, and sends a very positive message to stay strong in tough times.

Christopher Paul Curtis is one of my favorite adolescent authors. I read Bub, Not Buddy to my 8th graders every year (Great Depression) and The Watson's Go To Birmingham: 1963 (during a Civil Rights Movement unit). This school year I discovered Elijah of Buxton and read it to my students during my unit on American Slavery. None of my students had read the book and we were all on the edge of our seats together. This book has great voice and I especially enjoyed the dialect. My students and I throughly enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend it to students to read, parents to read to their kids and teachers to read to their students! I cannot say enough good things about this book.

*Elijah of Buxton* is an exciting historical fiction book about a boy named
Elijah who is the first child born free in Buxton. It is about the Preacher
who doesn't care for anyone in Buxton and who lies about everything. He
tells Elijah that one type of snake is outrageously dangerous and when his
mom plays a trick on him he finds that they are harmless. He still trusts
the Preacher so he goes to a carnival in a neighboring white town. The
preacher takes a boy in slavery from the white town and brings him to
Buxton. Then a single wife in Buxton finds out that her husband has died so
she gives her wood cutter Mr Leroy the money she was saving to buy her
husband out of slavery so he can buy his family out of slavery. Mr Leroy
gives the preacher his money because everybody still trusts him and because
he has contacts to buy people out of slavery. Elijah goes away from Buxton
and comes back with a slaves baby he found. The book ends with many
questions and is open to lots of predictions and questions.

Elijah of Buxton captured my interest on the first page. It is emotional,
dramatic and leaves you wondering at the end of each chapter. If you are
going to read a historical fiction book start with this one. I would
definitely recommend this book to 4th grade and up.