The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad - Historical Fiction Book for Kids & Adults - Perfect for Black History Month & Civil Rights Education

Wow, does it make for persuasive argument if I just say this book is good? No, but Barbara Greenwood's "The Last Safe House"" is a must for anyone interested in the topics of slavery, underground railroad or 19th century history, (America or Canada). What makes this book so special is that it is so much more that just a young adult novel. Yes, there is a fictional story being told here, but mixed into the fictional story are non-fictional side bar stories. So for example when the story starts to tell of a nefarious slave catcher, the author stops the fiction and starts giving us a real background of slave catchers and how they operated. Basically the footnotes for her story become part of the story. And believe me it is not distracting at all. It's almost like Barbara Greenwood is sitting us next to a fire and telling us the story and pausing every once in a while to more fully explain some things. I also loved Heather Collins's illustrations. We are not talking the fine art you occasionally see in juvenile books, but we are talking very functional drawings that not only add to the story but to our general understanding. I would love to have a poster size picture of her drawing of "A Cotton Plantation." In addition to the great design of this book, there are some story details that are often skipped over in many other similar type books. First off, she tell the story that slaves were still not completely free even if they made it to Canada. Also while Canada may have been the land of the free, it was not completely free of prejudice. I collect books about the underground railroad as a hobby. And Barbara Greenwood's "The Last Safe House will be one of my most recommenced reads.Snip, snap, snout, my tale is told out . . . . :-)