Bound To Stay Bound

Bulletin for the Center... - 02/01/2013 The Fradins celebrate an episode of collective action in which the citizens of Oberlin, Ohio put their lives on the line in 1858 to save a slave sheltering within their community. The story begins with the flight of John Price and two companions, who run away from their masters in Kentucky and find refuge with Quakers in Ohio. Price eventually decides to linger through the winter in Oberlin, until he could make his way into Canada after the ice on Lake Erie thawed. The pace and tension augment when a slavecatcher nabs Price and an Oberlin College student who witnesses Price’s plight musters the community. A large posse of citizens travel to the neighboring town where Price is being held and, despite their pacifist leanings, come ready to fight to bring Price back home to Oberlin. Velasquez’s paintings have the cinematic flair of frontier adventures—not the B-Western variety, but the provocative showdowns in which the righteous suspend a deeply held conviction for a greater good. A family is bribed with a gold coin to betray Price; the Oberlin student walks straight-faced past the kidnapped slave, cannily disguising his own outrage; and pistol-toting Oberlinians creep up the hotel stairs to ambush Price’s captors. Information about the fate of the rescuers, all of whom served jail time for breaking the law, takes pride of place at the episode’s conclusion, right under a full-spread photograph of the heroes—notably black and white, young and old. Lists of adult and children’s print resources and a selection of websites are included. EB - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

School Library Journal - 01/01/2013 Gr 3–6—In 1856, John Price escaped from slavery in Kentucky by crossing the frozen Ohio River. Two years later, slave hunters arrived in Oberlin, Ohio, and attempted to take him back at gunpoint. Shopkeepers, farmers, teachers, and college students formed an armed group of Rescuers to release Price. Some members of the group were former slaves, risking their own freedom. Charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, the Rescuers spent three months in jail. They returned home with a new purpose, vowing that "No fugitive slave shall ever be taken from Oberlin either with or without a warrant, if we have power to prevent it." The picture-book format is highly effective in conveying the power of the story. In Velasquez's dramatic mixed-media and oil paintings, determination shows in the stance of the figures and the set of their facial features. The book design is masterful. The front cover highlights John Price, surrounded by some of his champions. The back cover foreshadows a betrayal, with a hand dropping a gold coin into another hand, accompanied by the sentence, "How much is one man's life worth?" On the endpapers, a dark, quiet view of the river sets the stage for the conflict to come. Full-page images and spreads draw readers directly into the action. The final image is an 1859 large-scale photo of the Rescuers taken in the courtyard of the jail. This book could be used as a nonfiction partner to Christopher Paul Curtis's Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic, 2007) and as a resource in units about slavery, the Underground Railroad, or the Civil War.—Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 02/01/2013 The Oberlin-Wellington rescue—a little-known story from the annals of the American civil rights movement—finds cinematic exposition in this fast-paced, informative outing. Oberlin, Ohio, a sympathetic town resisting the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, became the home of many escaped slaves, including John Price, who arrived on the Underground Railroad from Kentucky, headed towards Canada, and settled down. When Price is kidnapped by a Kentucky slave hunter, the town rises up en masse to rescue him. Twenty men were tried, convicted, and jailed, and the conflict contributed to the unrest that led to the Civil War. The Fradins begin the story with Price’s escape and passage, moving quickly to the central event that plays out across a single day, with time stamps marking the episodic scenes. Velasquez storyboards the drama with his detailed paintings, occasionally framed with wooden panels, posing his characters to highlight the action. Back matter includes a bibliography and sources for further research, and illustrations on the front and back endpapers offer meaningful context. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.

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