January's Sparrow

by Patricia Polacco

Book Overview

Patricia Polacco's most powerful book since Pink and Say. In the middle of the night, The Crosswhites?including young Sadie?must flee the Kentucky plantation they work on. Dear January has been beaten and killed by the plantation master, and they fear who may be next. But Sadie must leave behind her most valuable possession, the wooden sparrow carved for her by January. Through the Underground Railroad, the Crosswhites make the slow and arduous journey to Marshall, Michigan, where they finally live in freedom. And there they stay, happily, until the day a mysterious package shows up on their doorsteps. It is January?s sparrow, with a note that reads, ?I found you.? How the Crosswhites, and the whole town of Marshall, face this threat will leave readers empowered and enthralled. This is a Polacco adventure that will live in the minds of children for years.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399250778
• ISBN13: 9780399250774
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Philomel Books
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 10.1" x 11.0"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Teaching tool for middle school kids...

I teach middle school kids and I love them. They think they know so much and yet are open to learning more. This book touched them like no other book ever has. The impact was visible. I am serious. It was profound for white students in the North to "get" the fact that slavery had an impact here, too. They felt so isolated from this issue before this book. Now, when I read my students' writing, I see their attempts at realistic references to slavery, and to understanding the world from the point of view of someone else - this is a pretty incredible gift Polacco has given teachers and students. This book, along with Pink and Say, are perfect for middle school kids. They give good, true information in a format that is non-threatening. The kids are appropriately shocked and outraged, but they are allowed to digest it at their own pace and they have Patricia's gentle and beautiful artwork to help them understand. This book should win the Newbery and Caldecott Awards.

An Absolutely Riveting Read

Every elementary-aged child needs this book in his ore her personal library, and every public library should have this book in its collection. Besides a story you cannot put down, the themes included of what absolute power does to a person, what fear does, and how heroism can be forged in the most dire circumstances, are inspiring. The illustrations are perfect.

Inspiring!

Patricia Polacco has done it again! Her stories are an inspiration! This book reveals a very serious subject in a way that young children can understand and respond to it!

January's Sparrow

Patricia Polacco has done it again. This is a heart wrenching story of slavery and bravery. Very well written and illustrated as with all of her books.

January's Sparrow

Patricia is an amazing author who tells it like it is or was. She makes the pages come alive by connecting to the readers lives and surroundings. January Sparrow is just another one of her amazing picture books that share about the struggles African Americans lived through and should not have had to. I dare you to read it without a tissue near by. I have yet to read one of her books without a tissue box on my lap.