African

Grade 1-4-Altman uses a folksy, third-person voice to describe a fictional episode set in California during the Gold Rush. The story concerns the friendship between outsiders Rosabel, an African American, and Sophie, a Jewish girl. The tale turns on the fact that Rosabel has her 'freedom papers,' but her mother does not. When the woman is captured under the Fugitive Slave Act, the girls hatch a plan to free her. Conveniently, they find gold in a nearby cave that is worth enough to buy freedom for Rosabel's mother and the five other prisoners on the slave wagon. The ending stretches credibility a bit, but the book is competently painted and has curricular possibilities for a topic not typically treated in picture books. The watercolors are rendered in a muted palette; the main characters appear in sharper focus and slightly brighter colors. Consider where period picture books are popular.Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.