Elijah of Buxton
“Looky there! Look at that sky! Ain’t that the most beutifullest sky you ever seen?... Looky there, look at that land! Have you ever seen anything that precious? It’s the land of the free!... Today your truly free, and you chose the most beautiful, most perfect day for doing it?... All I’m wondering is, what kept you?”, this how slaves were welcomed into Buxton, a settlement of runaway slaves near the border of the United States in the historical fiction novel Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.
I’m Isaac and I knew this novel would be perfect for someone who enjoys reading books based during slavery in the United States. Elijah is a boy who lives in Buxton Canada, he is seen as a sensitive person by most people, but when his friend’s money is stolen he rises to the occasion and runs away to help retrieve it.
In the beginning of the book Elijah was a sensitive person he got upset and scared of the simplest things, but over the course of the book Elijah gains greater understanding of the cruelties of the world and horrors of slavery. This causes Elijah to mature by gaining more understanding. By doing so he becomes less sensitive but still less mature or knowledgeable than the majority of adults.
The theme of the book is determination only helps you succeed when you are free from the fear of failure. I hope you read and enjoy Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis I definitely did!