A window into a child's experience of the Great Migration from the
award-winning creators of Before She Was Harriet and Finding
Langston.
Climbing aboard the New York bound Silver Meteor train, Ruth Ellen
embarks upon a journey toward a new life up North--one she can't begin
to imagine. Stop by stop, the perceptive young narrator tells her
journey in poems, leaving behind the cotton fields and distant Blue
Ridge mountains.
Each leg of the trip brings new revelations as scenes out the window of
folks working in fields give way to the Delaware River, the curtain that
separates the colored car is removed, and glimpses of the freedom and
opportunity the family hopes to find come into view. As they travel,
Ruth Ellen reads from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
reflecting on how her journey mirrors her own-- until finally the train
arrives at its last stop, New York's Penn Station, and the family heads
out into a night filled with bright lights, glimmering stars, and new
possiblity.
James Ransome's mixed-media illustrations are full of bold color and
texture, bringing Ruth Ellen's journey to life, from sprawling cotton
fields to cramped train cars, the wary glances of other passengers and
the dark forest through which Frederick Douglass traveled towards
freedom. Overground Railroad is, as Lesa notes, a story of people who
were running from and running to at the same time, and it's a story that
will stay with readers long after the final pages.
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A Booklist Editor's Choice
