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Gr 3-6 As the story opens, the Old African is watching a boy being whipped on a plantation in Georgia. He is putting a picture into the minds of his comrades - -a picture of water as soft and cool as a lullaby - -and the picture stops the boy's pain. The Old African doesn't speak -he hasn't since he was brought over on a slave ship -why should he when there is no one who would understand? As he cares for the boy, who had been whipped for running away, a hope sprouts in his mind -a way to return home -and he uses his ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

In a historically based legend from Ybo Landing, Georgia, slaves "walked into the water, saying they were going to walk back to Africa." Lester's narrative begins with the Old African, with mythic power, solacing a brutally whipped boy, then flashes back to his slave ship experience, graphically described. Finally, tall, black clouds resembling slave ships send down lightning "like whips of fire" (or divine retribution), cons...Log In or Sign Up to Read More