Booktalk
Title: Copper Sun
Author: Sharon Draper
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Date Published: 2006
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade Level: High School
Winner: Coretta Scott King Award
This book shows the horrors and brutality of slavery in the American colonies through the eyes of the main character, 16-year-old Amari.
The story opens in Amari¹s village in Africa where strangers arrive, ²pale, unhealthy-looking men who carried large bundles and unusual-looking sticks as they marched into the center of the village.² Following a welcoming ceremony by the villagers, the strangers proceed to plunder the village, shackling the young and strong, while killing the rest. Amari, having witnessed the death of her parents and younger brother, is marched with others to a slave fort where the group is kept until they are put on board a ³boat of death.²
Amari¹s experiences aboard the slave ship and being sold as a birthday present to a 16-year-old boy on the auction block in Charles Town, Colony of South Carolina are only the beginning of her agonizing story. On the plantation where she is enslaved, Amari strikes up an unexpected friendship with Polly, an indentured servant. Their shared determination and hope for the future carry them through one harrowing experience after another.
This book is a page turner. I kept asking myself if I could have survived the ordeals Amari experienced. As you read the book, I am sure you will be asking yourself the same question.
Background:
The author, Sharon Draper, conducted extensive research when preparing for this historical fiction book. Reading it will increase the readers¹ knowledge about the slave trade, indentured servants and the realities and horrors experienced by teenagers during this dark time in our history.
Author website: http://sharondraper.com
This site contains resource materials related to Copper Sun, including many primary source documents.
Related Book:
Day of Tears : a Novel in Dialogue by Julius Lester
Marnie Bolstad Sharon, MA