Chains

I recently read a children's book that I really really loved and I thought I'd write about it. So here.

It is called "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson. It is the story of a young slave girl who is owned by a Tory family in New York right at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. It was quite an eye-opening story as most of my reading about slavery talked about cotton fields and such down South. It drew a different perspective especially surrounding the events of the beginning of the war including the Declaration of Independence. It touched on some of the apparent hypocrisy of the Patriots who declared their own independence from the oppressive British, but refused to extend the same independence to the blacks.

The writing is very good. I'm not very eloquent in expressing why I like someone's writing, but the book just drew me in and I couldn't stop reading it. Disclaimer: the book does not sugar-coat much of anything. There is violence in this book. However, it is not written in a gruesome or graphic manner. I still wholeheartedly recommend this book. That actually might be why.

I am a firm believer in accuracy in historical fiction. I also believe that there is a balance between raising children under a rock with no exposure to hard things and throwing them to the wolves. Of course we have to be careful and protect our children, but I don't think no allowing them to see or read anything that involves violence or hard topics is the answer. Of course I have no children now, but I think I would like my children to read this book if they would like to. There is my rant, and my own book review.