Twelve-year-old Ann Maria Weems works from sunup to sundown, wraps rags around her feet in the winter, and must do whatever her master or mistress orders--but she has something that many plantation slaves don't have. She has her wonderful family around her. To Ann, her teasing brothers, her older sister, and her protective and loving parents are everything. And then one day, they are gone.
Separated from her family by her master and shipped off as a housemaid, Ann learns something about independence and about love before the opportunity for escape arrives. A white man risks his life for Ann, cuts her hair short, dresses her like a boy, and launches her on her journey on the Underground Railroad to Canada, her family, and finally to freedom.
Until she was a teenager, Ann Maria Weems lived in the mid-1800s near the author's home in Maryland. This fictionalized account of her extraordinary life is ideal for students, teachers, and parents hungry for interesting and informative reading in African-American history and the Underground Railroad.
WINNER
| 2000 ALA Best Books for Young Adults
NOMINEE
| 2002 Arizona Young Readers Award
"A deftly crafted story with a strong, appealing heroine." -- School Library Journal, Starred
"Imaginatively and sensitively adapted from historical records, [Stealing Freedom] will evoke admiration for the courage of both those who resisted slavery and those who endured it." -- Publishers Weekly, Starred
"Riveting . . . a thrilling and hopeful novel." -- Columbus Dispatch
Twelve-year-old Ann Maria Weems works from sunup to sundown, wraps rags around her feet in the winter, and must do whatever her master or mistress orders--but she has something that many plantation slaves don't have. She has her wonderful family around her. To Ann, her teasing brothers, her older sister, and her protective and loving parents are everything. And then one day, they are gone.
Separated from her family by her master and shipped off as a housemaid, Ann learns something about independence and about love before the opportunity for escape arrives. A white man risks his life for Ann, cuts her hair short, dresses her like a boy, and launches her on her journey on the Underground Railroad to Canada, her family, and finally to freedom.
Until she was a teenager, Ann Maria Weems lived in the mid-1800s near the author's home in Maryland. This fictionalized account of her extraordinary life is ideal for students, teachers, and parents hungry for interesting and informative reading in African-American history and the Underground Railroad.
Awards
WINNER
| 2000 ALA Best Books for Young Adults
NOMINEE
| 2002 Arizona Young Readers Award
Praise
"A deftly crafted story with a strong, appealing heroine." -- School Library Journal, Starred
"Imaginatively and sensitively adapted from historical records, [Stealing Freedom] will evoke admiration for the courage of both those who resisted slavery and those who endured it." -- Publishers Weekly, Starred
"Riveting . . . a thrilling and hopeful novel." -- Columbus Dispatch
