SuperPizzaBoy and I just finished “Elijah of Buxton” by Christopher Paul Curtis. This is a great book that came well recommended. It is a Newberry Honor Book and has won several other awards.

The book is about a boy, Elijah, a free born black youth, who lives in Buxton, Canada just before the Civil War. Buxton is a settlement of former slaves who one way or another escaped slavery and made it over the border. The village is very close knit and values education, hard work, thrift, honor, and church.

The book is humorous in tone mostly but not everything is funny. Just over the border are slaves attempting to cross and slavers trying to intercept them and take them back to the south. It is serious business.

One of Elijah’s adult friends, steals money from another freedman, and goes south to the US. Elijah follows him across the border to get it back and finds himself in a terrible predicament. He displays courage and honor in figuring out what he should do to resolve it.

This book is very compelling. Both SPB and I loved it and I recommend it highly. It does have complicated situations and I think that it would be most appropriate for 5th graders and higher.

I give this book four stars out of four.