Really excellent story -- love the family, and I really enjoy Wood's writing. This story is particularly good at presenting slavery -- both the daily fear/terror/drudgery/anger and the close relationships that make survival possible. Beautiful family. Really love that they run to the swamp and the protection of the Seminole tribe, which is not as well known of an escape. ( )

Sally Harrison and her family are slaves on a Georgian plantation. When her father finds out that the master plans on selling Sally, her older brother, and a couple of other children, the family escapes to northern Florida, where the Seminoles live. Sally struggles with adjusting to the Indian way of life, but soon finds comfort in her new home.

This book is an easy read for middle grades, and readers will learn about the history between black slaves and the Seminoles. Told from Sally's point-of-view, one is immersed in the way of life of a 12-year-old slave and the pursuit of freedom. ( )

This was one of my books that I was assigned to read and I wasn't really excited to read it. The cover didn't look very interesting. The first night I read it, I was proven wrong. The book was breathtaking. Brenda Woods added beautiful, detailed discripstions that made me smile. Meet Sally May and her family--a mother, a father, and her brother, Abraham. They pick cotton every day--slaves. Sally May and her family would love to leave this horrid land and live somewhere else...a particular place she could call home. One rainy night a visitor comes to talk to Sally May's father, talking about an escape. The next day, they start running way, feeling free. Before Sally May knew it, she loses someone very close to her and comes to a village with Indians. Is this her new home? ( )

This Sequoyah is a quality novel. The story begins with the family as slaves. They ran away from their master becuase he was going to send the children, Sally and Abraham away. The plot thickens when Dessa, Sally's mother gets bitten by an alligator. Will she live or not? She lost so much blood that she died there in the swamp. The family then escapes to the Seminole tribe and is accepted into their tribe.

Sally made up songs to help her work not seem so tedious and also to help her morn for her mother. The Seminole showed an attitude of acceptance we all should exhibit. They accepted the slaves into their homes. This is a concept we want to teach the children.

Have the children how to write a poem or a song. Teach them how to grind corn.

Booklist, Aug. 1, 2006 (Vol. 102, No. 22)