Elijah of Buxton

Elijah of Buxton

Written by Christopher Paul Curtis

Scholastic Press, New York, NY

Copyright 2007

Reading Level: Lexile- 1070L, Grade Level: 5-6

2008 Newbery Medal Honor
2008 Corretta Scott King Award
2008 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

“slavery, freedom, Canada, journey, courage”

The first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit, Elijah is best known in his hometown as the boy who threw up on Frederick Douglass. (Not on purpose, of course — he was just a baby then!) But things change when a former slave calling himself the Right Reverend Zephariah W. Connerly the Third steals money from Elijah's friend Mr. Leroy, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the south. Elijah joins Mr. Leroy on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the disreputable preacher, and he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled — a life from which he'll always be free, if he can find the courage to go back home.

Suggested Delivery: independent reading

Electronic Resources:

1.  http://www.buxtonmuseum.com/history/virtual-elgin-settlement.html

This resource is the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum website. The site contains a ton of great information on the history of Buxton including timelines, significant people and events, photographs, and information on museum exhibits. I think this resource would be useful in building background knowledge of the setting and people in the story.

2.  http://www.ducksters.com/history/civil_war/underground_railroad.php

This resource is a page from ducksters.com which provides a lot of useful information about the underground railroad. This page would be useful for incorporating social studies into reading lessons for the book. The website also contains many other articles and pages of important people, events, and interesting facts from the Civil War era

Teaching Suggestions

1. Vocabulary

•       Conjure: to make something (appear) unexpectedly or seemingly from no wear as if with magic
      Scallywags: a person who behaves badly but in an amusingly mischievous rather than harmful way
      Shackles: a pair of fetters connected together by a chain, used to fasten a prisoner’s wrists or ankles together
      Paddy rollers: slave patrollers
abolitionist: a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially slavery
 slavers: a person dealing in or owning slaves
plantation: an estate on which crops are cultivated by resident labor

2. Before, During, and After Reading Strategies:

Before Reading:

Since much of the dialogue from the story is authentic to the setting of 1860, Buxton Canada, most of the dialogue and language in the book contain some unknown vocabulary as well as words and phrases from a different dialect than the students are probably used to. Use the below infographic chart to pre-teach some essential vocabulary, jargon, and vocabulary comprehension strategies. Students can use the infographic as a reference during reading to remind them of the meaning of some difficult words or slang, and to remind them how to use context clues and words parts to identify unknown words.

During reading:

The cast of characters demonstrates strong character traits that differ greatly from one another.  Ask the students to think of how some of the characters differ in the story. During reading, have the students split a piece of paper into thirds and label each third as “Elijah,” “The Preacher,” and “Mr. Leroy.” Ask students to think of each character’s character traits and write down what each character would say if they were talking about Elijah. Students should think about how would Elijah describe himself, how would the preacher or Mr. Leroy describe Elijah

After Reading:

Using Picktograph, have the students work in pairs to analyze and create an infographic map (like the one above) of Elijah’s character change throughout the story. Give students the opportunity to look at events and major turning points in the group, brainstorm and create a graphic organizer or outline before creating their infograph. Encourage the students to share their infographs with the rest of the class.

Writing Activity:

The following writing prompt draft can be used after completing the story to have students demonstrate their inferential comprehension of the story by having them explain the significance of some important events from the text.

Frederick Douglass says the second hardest step to freedom is the first one, and the hardest step of all is the last one. This quote is first mentioned when a family of escaped slaves arrives at the settlement, and is brought up again at the end of the story when Elijah is bring baby Hope back to the settlement. Why do you think Elijah says this to hope?” What do you think the quote means and why do you think its important?