Steamboat School by Deborah Hopkinson

Steamboat School by Deborah Hopkinson

Missouri, 1847

When James first started school, his sister practically had to drag him there. The classroom was dark and dreary, and James knew everything outside was more exciting than anything he'd find inside.

But his teacher taught him otherwise.

"We make our own light here," Reverend Meachum told James.

And through hard work and learning, they did, until their school was shut down by a new law forbidding African American education in Missouri. Determined to continue teaching his students, Reverend John Berry Meachum decided to build a new school-a floating school in the Mississippi River, just outside the boundary of the unjust law.

Based on true events, Ron Husband's uplifting illustrations bring to life Deborah Hopkinson's tale of a resourceful, determined teacher; his bright, inquisitive students; and their refusal to accept discrimination based on the color of their skin.

Deborah Hopkinson is the author of nearly 40 award-winning novels, including Shutting Out the Sky, an NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book and a Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book; Up Before Dawn, a Carter G. Woodson Award Honor Book; and Up Before Daybreak, a Carter G. Woodson Award Honor Book. Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist and Sibert Honor Book; Courage & Defiance: Tales of Spies, Saboteurs, and Survivors in World War Two Denmark, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and Orbis Pictus Suggested title; Dive!, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and Orbis Pictus Recommended title; Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist and Sibert Deborah resides near Portland, Oregon, with her family.