Monday, July 21, 2008

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis




Rating: 1.3.2

Recommended audience: 10 years and up

Category: Historical fiction, juvenile, YA

Review: 5/5

Sometimes I think I rate all of my books too high but I can't help it that I love so many of them! This is another that I really enjoyed. Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis won a Newbery Honor Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award and it is well deserving of both awards. I listened to this one on cd's and it was a delight. The reader was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In this story, Elijah is 11 years old and was the first free-born child born in the settlement of Buxton in Canada. The book first starts out introducing us to this interesting, funny, and insightful boy as he talks about his life in Buxton. We get to know his family, friends, and community through the first part of the book and then in the second part, the story takes off. I laughed and I cried while listening to this wonderful book. It is written in just the way a boy of 11 living in Buxton in 1857 would talk. There are lots of "ain'ts" and other examples of poor grammar and just a different dialect. It takes a little getting used to but I think it adds to the charm of the book. This is another one that I highly recommend.

2 comments:

Jeanette said...

I know what you mean. I feel like I have been heavy on the 5 star ratings lately myself. But I've been reading some good books! I checked this out a while back but did not get it read before I had to take it back to the library. I need to go get it again and actually read it!

Tracy said...

Very Good Book Club read again - good for your teenagers too