 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The Slave Dancer
- By Paula Fox
- Genre: Historical Fiction
Common Sense Media says
Moderately graphic depiction of the slave trade.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this is a moderately graphic depiction of the worst aspects of the slave trade, told exclusively from a white boy's point of view, and it will raise many questions, both historical and moral. Though the reading level is middle to upper elementary, sensitive children may find it disturbing.
What's the story?
Kidnapped in New Orleans, Jessie is forced aboard a slave ship bound for Africa, where he is required both to act as a ship's boy and, when the slaves are brought on board, to play his fife while they are "danced" -- that is, forced to exercise. On the ship he meets the vicious and greedy captain, and the sullen and contentious crew.
But the rigors of the trip west across the Atlantic, including the brutal and unjust flogging of one of the sailors, do not prepare him for the horrors of the return trip, as the slaves are packed into the hold on top of each other, brutalized, malnourished, thrown overboard when they die, and forced to dance to the sound of Jessie's fife.
Is it any good?
The somewhat awkward device of Jessie's kidnapping allows author Paula Fox to look at the slave trade from the point of view of an innocent. Jessie, neither slave, slave owner, nor slave trader, an empathetic boy brought up in genteel poverty in a majority-black city, can relate to what he sees with just revulsion, and without hypocrisy or complicity, though the complete lack of any sort of racism in this son of the pre-Civil War South strains credulity a bit. But it's necessary to allow him to provide young readers with an emotional point of entry to a grotesque and alien world.
Fox does not pull many punches -- the depiction of the methods of the trade is clear and thoroughly researched, though an Author's Note about that research would have been welcome. She also makes clear the impact of involvement in the trade, from the debasement and brutality of the sailors to the lifelong emotional impact of the experience on Jessie, vividly and lyrically portrayed in an epilogue.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the author's choice to make the narrator a young, white boy instead of a slave or a slave owner. Does the fact that Jessie is more or less an innocent bystander in the slave trade make his description of what he sees more or less reliable? How do Jessie's experiences before boarding the ship affect the way he views the slaves? The sailors? In what ways do you think the horror of his experiences aboard the ship will affect him long after he returns to dry land?
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AGE
BORING!!!!
I'm in eigth grade and i had to read a book and write a book report on it...it took me quite a while to read this book b/c it was EXTREMELY boring! I would NOT recommend it to anyone!
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AGE
I had to read this for school!
I am in 7th grade and I believe though it may be appropriate for 10 year olds, they may not get the entire meaning of the book.
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AGE
Awesome graphic!
the slave dancer, yet quite gruesome, is a spellbinding book retelling the horric practices of slave trade. it also explain the cruelty of human nature and inhuman conditions. Overall, I give this book 5 stars!(if i can give more i would.)
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AGE
Maybe disturbing for people who aren't ready
A good book that I recomend to people who can handle it. It's a little intense. There's beating and some language, there's also lots of dying. It's a little depressing to see what people did to the african slaves.
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AGE
A great book for 8th grade social studies
This book very well explains how the slave life was like back then..slaves were sold like candy..like they ment nothing..they did though..slavery was wrong.
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AGE
Dont waste your time
I hated this book. it was boring and got inappropriate at times. I wouldn't recommend it. i had to read it for a book report. HATED IT.
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| Author: | Paula Fox |
| Book type: | Fiction |
| Genre: | Historical Fiction |
| Publisher: | Penguin Group |
| Publication date: | March 28, 2004 |
| Number of pages: | 176 |
| Hardcover price: | $16.95 |
| Publisher's recommended age(s): | 9 - 12 |
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