Steal Away Home

Rating:
Summary: a review
Review: Steal away home is a book about these quakers who move from boston to kansas during the civil war. The lady is helping slaves get into free land while her husband is gone away working. He ends up finding out, and thinks it is dishonorable, but he agrees. It is a good book for people if they like to read.

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Summary: Running Away From Slavery
Review: Steal Away Home is a great book. It gives good detail and information. You know exactly what's going on. It's kind of sad, and exciting at the same time. It's sad, because someone dies. To know that she rotted in a dark, damp room. In the journal, Lizbet Charles, a slave, says `Amen' quite a few times. Lizbet is a religious slave. She mostly says it when she agrees with someone. Like, `Miz Lizbet, I know my ma about as well as anyone does. If she gave this to thee, she meant for thee to have it .' he expected to hear `Amen.' The setting's put back in 1856 and present day. 1856 is the journal. Lizbet has to get all slaves to freedom. Dana must find out who the dead body is. Once you start, you can't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: The book Steal Away Home by Lois Ruby is very good.There are two main characters. One is twelve-year-old James Baylor Weaver, who lives in Lawrence, Kansas, in the year 1856. His house is a station on the Underground Railroad, but only while his father is away. James and his mother and his sister Rebecca must keep this a secret from James's father. The other main character is twelve-year-old Dana Shannon, who lives in James's house about 140 years later. When she discovers a human skeleton in a hidden room behind a wall in her house, she and some scientists work hard to find out who the skeleton is. (Or was.) But Dana has something that the police don't - a diary that she found in the room, the diary of Millicent Weaver, James's mother. From the diary, she learns that the skeleton is Lizbet Charles. But why did Lizbet die? To find out, read this book. It is a very interesting book and I would reccomend it to anyone who likes to read.

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Summary: "WHISPERS ACROSS THE CENTURY"
Review: This is my first book by Lois Ruby, so I don't know her literary track record, but I must say: I am impressed! She offers detailed scholarship, twisting plots with tantalyzing revelations of the mystery, good character development and the ability to juggle two different storylines, some 130 years apart. This book will capture the interest of today's teens; the coexisting stories feature a girl of the 90's and a boy of the pre Civil War era. While enjoying the mystery and trying to piece together the historical puzzle, readers will effortlessly absorb information about the anti-slavery movement in Kansas, Quaker lifestyle and the underground railroad.

Through it all as the chapters flip-flop in time, there emerges the character of a strong heroine--one Lizbet Charles, 23, an escaped slave and self-proclaimed "conductor". This undaunted young woman dedicates her life to aiding fugitives seeking freedom in Canada. Her sudden arrival impacts the home of the Weaver family, already embroiled in the anti-slavery wars in the Midwest. Ma risks her marriage to shelter escaped slaves, while Pa works through legal channels to establish Kansas as a Free state. All of which poses a difficult moral dilemma for young James; to fight fire with fire (and a gun) or to stand by the family's religious convictions. How will a conscientious Quaker youth respond under pressure? Whose Right has greater precedence? And how can the kids of the present honor the homespun heros of the past? What would be fitting memorials to Lizbet's courage and James' dedication? This is one fast and fascinating read!

Rating:
Summary: Good historical facts and amusing storyline
Review: This novel is great for middle schoolers all over the country. I particularly liked this novel because it not only had language arts ties but also social studies ties with all of the historical and period information. Lois Ruby, true to her other works, does a great job of providing a lot of information about the area. This book, about a girl who finds a skeleton in her house, is well written because it switches back and forth between present time period and the time period of the underground railroad (which is the era of the skeleton that was found in Dana's closet).Ruby does a great job with this book, it is highly entertaining and informative. Massive amounts of information plus a great storyline make this a wonderful book for middle school students.