Freedom Business by Marilyn Nelson
The true narrative of a slave from Africa, crafted in verse by Marilyn Nelson. Born an African prince, Broteer Furro was captured by slave traders at age six. As he stepped onto a cargo ship, the vessel's steward purchased the boy and gave him a new name: Venture. He landed in Rhode Island and worked through a lifetime of slavery to buy not only his own freedom but the freedom of his wife and children. Remarkable in his own time for his ambition and physical stature, Venture Smith became history's first man to document both his capture from Africa and life as an American slave. In this breathtaking volume, Marilyn Nelson's poems sit opposite the text of Smith's own narrative. Nelson's controlled verse layers this edition with insight into Smith's stoic eighteenth-century prose. Deborah Dancy's stark watercolor collages highlight the tension between the economical language of the narrative and the turbulent emotion within the poems.
* "It's surprising that this essential part of American biography and history isn't more widely known" --Booklist, starred review
* "An astonishing, heartbreaking cycle of poems. . . . Tragic, important, breathtaking. (author's, artist's notes)" --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"The poems have both the sense of natural speech and of oratory, giving rhythmic majesty to intensely detailed physical and emotional landscapes." --School Library Journal
* "An astonishing, heartbreaking cycle of poems. . . . Tragic, important, breathtaking. (author's, artist's notes)" --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"The poems have both the sense of natural speech and of oratory, giving rhythmic majesty to intensely detailed physical and emotional landscapes." --School Library Journal
Marilyn Nelson has won a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and many Coretta Scott King Honors, as well as several important poetry honors, including the Poets' Prize and the Robert Frost Medal. She is a three-time National Book Award Finalist. She has received three honorary doctorates and has recently served as a judge for poetry candidates at the National Endowment for the Arts and Yaddo.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781932425574 |
| ISBN 10 | 1932425578 |
| Title | Freedom Business |
| Author | Marilyn Nelson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Astra Publishing House |
| Year published | 2008-10-01 |
| Number of pages | 72 |
| Prizes | Commended for Connecticut Book Awards (Children's Author) 2009, Commended for Connecticut Book Awards (Children's Illustrator) 2009 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |