Elijah of Buxton

Well Done

I read this book aloud, a chapter a day, to my eighth grade history students. It kept them interested and me motivated throughout the book. Written from the point of view of young Elijah, the students could at one time identify with Elijah and at others, learn about life along with him. The story takes you into a little-explored fact of slave-history, that of the relationships between people who have escaped and made new lives for themselves in Canada. I had a little trouble reading aloud in spots, at times because it was so funny that I wanted to laugh and at others because it was so sad I wanted to cry. I loved it and my students agreed that after it was finished we missed Elijah, he had so grown on us.