Follow the Drinking Gourd - Jeanette Winter
Engages children by bringing history to life.
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- Author:Jeanette Winter
- # of pages: 46
- Publisher:Random House Inc.
- Original Publication Date: 01/01/1988
- Genre: Fiction - Historical Fiction
- Paperback: $7.99
- Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: Baby-Preschool
- Read Aloud: 2-4
Parents need to know
Families can talk about slavery. How do you think it would feel not to have your freedom? Why did people feel the need to enslave others?
Message
Social Behavior:
This may be your young one's introduction to the shameful history of enslavement.
Consumerism:
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
Violence
The foreground of one picture depicts a slave driver with a whip. The family hides from dogs and fights off a wolf.
Sex
Language
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Amy Brotman
Is it any good?
A difficult task: How do you present difficult topics such as slavery and the Underground Railroad without frightening young ones? Jeanette Winters accomplishes this with rhythmic, gentle text and simple pictures in soothing nighttime tones that still convey the fear and hardship runaway slaves experience.
The book successfully incorporates the musical and scientific aspects of the legend of Peg Leg Joe into the text. A few of the illustrations may seem a bit scary, but Winter keeps the presentation gentle enough for her young audience without sacrificing accuracy by presenting a watered-down version of history.
While the paintings in the first half may evoke fear and pity, as the book progresses and the family nears freedom, the background colors lighten and brighten. One of the more soothing scenes is of mother Molly giving her son, Isaiah, a bath in a warm Quaker home along the route.
Though it may spur tough but valid questions about slavery, this book also stimulates an interest in astronomy, maps, history, and of course, music.
Other choices
Other good books in this genre include Allan Jay and the Underground Railroad by Marlene Targ Brill, and Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson.
Parents and kids say



