January/February 2007 issue Click on the cover to order this
book Underground Man by Milton Meltzer; Harcourt Children’s
Books: New York, 2006; $17.00 Milton Meltzer’s Underground Man
is a fictional but historically accurate account of life during
the Civil War. Josh, a teenager, leaves his farm home to start a
life of his own away from his parents. During his travels, he
meets a runaway slave. Josh hears of the horrible conditions and
the brutal treatment of slaves by their owners. After learning
about this, Josh is inspired to become an abolitionist working
to rescue blacks from slavery. It is surprising that the hero in
this book, Josh, is Caucasian. I learned many things about the
brutal treatment of slaves and how horrible life was for them. I
also learned many things about how abolitionists were detested
and unpopular by the people of the southern states. Some
specific things that Josh does to free slaves is buying them at
auctions and then letting them free. He even puts himself in
danger by helping sl