Freedom Train

by Evelyn Coleman

Overview

Now in paperback, an enthralling account of a young boy’s struggle to help freedom triumph over fear in the 1940s American South.

It’s 1947, and twelve-year-old Clyde Thomason is proud to have an older brother who guards the Freedom Train—a train that is traveling to all forty-eight states carrying the country’s most important documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Clyde is chosen to say the Freedom Pledge at the train’s stop in Atlanta, but his terrible stage fright forces him to refuse the honor. Instead, it’s the class bully, Phillip, who gets selected, and he begins to torment Clyde. When an African-American boy saves him from a beating, Clyde is shocked. Especially when he learns that William lives in the white part of town. How can this be? And why can’t he bring himself to be friends with William?

Clyde hasn’t told his parents he won’t perform the pledge, nor has he mentioned his confusing friendship with a boy of color. So when the townspeople threaten William’s family, Clyde has a choice to make: Will he keep quiet, or stand up for real freedom?

Ideal for classrooms, Freedom Train contains historical photos of the Freedom Train and its guards, as well as an author’s note that provides additional information about the history of the Freedom Train.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442436527
Publisher:	Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication date:	01/03/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Evelyn Coleman's books include To Be a Drum, White Socks Only, The Riches of Oseola McCarty, a Smithsonian Notable Book and a Carter G. Woodson Honor Book, and Born in Sin. Ms. Coleman lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where she received the Atlanta Mayor's fellowship for achievement in children's literature. Visit Evelyn online at evelyncoleman.com.

Editorial Reviews

Set in Atlanta in 1947, Coleman's (Born in Sin) novel looks at charged emotions in the segregated South. Twelve-year-old Clyde lives in the "mill village," where his mother works long hours to support their family. Clyde looks forward to letters from his older brother Joseph, a WWII marine who is a guard on the Freedom Train, which is carrying the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and other significant documents on a nationwide tour. William, an African-American boy who's adept with a slingshot, rescues Clyde from a pummeling by the class bully; initially conflicted about befriending William, Clyde realizes that he doesn't want to be someone "who don't want to speak up when something ain't right." Coleman convincingly depicts Clyde's gradual awakening to the racism that surrounds him, as well as the prejudice his impoverished family faces ("People kept staring at us like we was the monkeys at a show," Clyde thinks when his father treats them to tea at a fancy department store restaurant). Despite the book's somewhat sluggish pace, historically minded readers should enjoy this snapshot of America's past. Ages 8-12. (Jan.)

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Publishers Weekly

AGERANGE: Ages 8 to 12.

It is 1947, and Clyde Thomason is looking forward to seeing his older brother Joseph. His brother is one of the guards on the Freedom Train. This important train, filled with documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, will be visiting forty-eight states. Going from town to town, it gives many a chance to glimpse at their shared history. To further stress the idea of a shared history, the train will not stop at towns that refuse to integrate the lines, allowing people of all races equal access to the treasured documents. Out of the children in his class, Clyde has been chosen to recite the Freedom Pledge when the Freedom Train arrives in town. But Clyde is terrified of speaking in public. It is not until he comes face to face with the cruelty of injustice that he truly experiences the meaning of freedom and how it is meant for all humanity. This book was an unexpected pleasure and a strong work. Its detail is beautiful and, at times, painful. Its voice jumps out at you from the first page and does not lose its potency throughout the rest of the work. The reader genuinely likes and becomes involved with Clyde and his family. This is a must-read. Reviewer: Monserrat Urena

Children's Literature

Clyde Thompson may be the shortest 12-year-old in seventh grade, but he learns to stand tall in this story about the Freedom Train's arrival in Atlanta in 1949. The train is traveling the country to bring the great freedom documents-the Gettysburg Address, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights-to the American people. Clyde's older brother Joseph is a guard on the train and has befriended a black man named W.C. Lounds, though Clyde says, "I ain't never heard of a colored man being a white man's best friend." Clyde's own new friendship with an African-American boy named William Dobbs puts him in the middle of racial tensions in his city, but the courage of William, the example of Joseph and the spirit of freedom represented by the Freedom Train empower Clyde to do the right thing when necessary. The novel is heavy-handed and self-consciously inspirational, but it's a fine story of a moment in history when times were changing and the Freedom Train reminded Americans of their better selves. (author's historical note) (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews