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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Rounding up stars
... one could say that Amos Fortune: Free Man is sappy, or overly religious or whitewashed, and that wouldn't be wrong, but it could serve well to spark interest in history and the shaping of our culture, and that's not a bad thing.
Amos Fortune was a real person, and Yates' research into his life story, with the help of the NH state librarian, uncovered details which might otherwise have been lost.
Copyright 1950, Newbery 1951.
... one could say that Amos Fortune: Free Man is sappy, or overly religious or whitewashed, and that wouldn't be wrong, but it could serve well to spark interest in history and the shaping of our culture, and that's not a bad thing.
Amos Fortune was a real person, and Yates' research into his life story, with the help of the NH state librarian, uncovered details which might otherwise have been lost.
Copyright 1950, Newbery 1951.
Mixed feelings about this one... it had a lot of good messages about perseverance and some parts were kinda uplifting... however, it was very white-washed. It skimmed over the fact that he was a slave and really only addressed racism one or two times. Sure he had it better off then most slaves, but I still felt like if I had read this when I was younger I would’ve thought that slavery wasn’t all as bad as people say it is.
It also seemed pretty boring to me. There wasn’t much dialogue and I personally really enjoy books with conversation.
Amos Fortune did a lot of good in his life time and I wouldn’t know all this if I hadn’t read this book, but it’s just not the best.
It also seemed pretty boring to me. There wasn’t much dialogue and I personally really enjoy books with conversation.
Amos Fortune did a lot of good in his life time and I wouldn’t know all this if I hadn’t read this book, but it’s just not the best.
slow-paced
Newbery Winner 1951
It's pegged as biography, but is definitely a novel. It bothers me that it is told as if all is accurate and true yet clearly much is fictional. The biggest problem is the way the author makes most of his owners so saintly and shows him as being so blasted happy with his lot in life. It seems to make slaverey look like it just wasn't so bad.
It's pegged as biography, but is definitely a novel. It bothers me that it is told as if all is accurate and true yet clearly much is fictional. The biggest problem is the way the author makes most of his owners so saintly and shows him as being so blasted happy with his lot in life. It seems to make slaverey look like it just wasn't so bad.
medium-paced
I found the true story of Amos Fortune to be inspiring. Captured as a boy and sold into slavery, he later bought his freedom and spend his life freeing others. He was Christlike and lived a honest, hardworking life. I will admit that it definitely glazed over the real brutality of slavery, but this also makes it more appropriate for younger readers.
This kind of hovers between a novel and a biography and doesn't really do either as well as if it just decided on one. Maybe this was progressive for the time, but it's not great now. Almost every white person Amos meets is nice to him, which is.... uh not historically accurate.
This is a great biography of man who was taken by slave traders in Africa as a teen, sold to a kind Quaker family in Massachusetts, then sold to another kind family who later set him free. He bought the freedom of a handful of other slaves in his lifetime, owned land, and created a profitable business. It's a different perspective on slavery than any other book I have read. I'm surprised I haven't heard of Amos Fortune before and would recommend this book to anyone.
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
this was so good and so beautifully told and so necessary and even though it was required reading I loved it so I call that a win ✨✨