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The Slave Dancer

by Paula Fox, Eros Keith (Illustrator)

3.51 · rating details · 1,975 ratings · 163 reviews

"Take up the pipe, Claudius," a voice growled near Jessie's bound head. "He's worth nothing without his pipe!"

Snatched from the docks of New Orleans, thirteen-year-old Jessie is thrown aboard a slave ship where he must play his fife so that captured slaves will "dance," to keep their muscles strong and their bodies profitable for their owners'...more

Paperback, 192 pages

Published September 16th 2008 by Aladdin (first published 1973)

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Dec 09, 2008

Erin rated it

· review of another edition

I probably shouldn't even say I read this book, because I got only to page 78 and then gave up. I have spent the last 5 years in children's libraries looking at books trying to decide what to read and/or purchase. I always thought this looked like a good one, after all, it is a Newberry Medal book. I picked this up because my daughter was studying the Transatlantic Slave Trade in school and I wanted a novel to read about the same topic. We began to read it together, aloud. The first two chapt...more

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Jul 31, 2008

Sarah rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: chapter-books

A powerful historical fiction book...maybe a little too intense for younger readers, but highly educational and masterfully written. The Newbery is well-deserved. I don't think many elementary-aged students would be able to grasp fully the complexity of the characters and their relationships in this novel--Fox explores the dark depths of human nature and human psychology--but I'm so glad she didn't give us a watered-down version of this period in American history.

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Jan 08, 2012

Austin Wistisen rated it

Term 2 Book Project
By: Austin Wistisen

A quote from Arthur Schopenhauer that perfectly reflects something horrible (prejudice: biased opinion not based on reason) from not only the book that I read, The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, but also in reality is “The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.” Jess...moreTerm 2 Book Project
By: Austin Wistisen

A quote from Arthur Schopenhauer that perfectly reflects something horrible (prejudice: biased opinion not based on reason) from not only the book that I read, The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, but also in reality is “The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.” Jessie Bollier (the main character), a thirteen-year-old boy living in New Orleans, plays his fife (a kind of flute) for pennies on a dock near his home. Then, one day, something happened that he never saw coming; he was kidnapped and tossed aboard a slave ship under the command of the ruthless Captain Cawthorne who treated the black slaves and most of his own crew like dirt. Jessie was on the ship to give music by playing his fife while the chained slaves were forced to dance to maintain strength to keep their bodies profitable. Jessie spent a fairly long amount of time on his journey aboard the ship, The Moonlight, sailing to Africa to pick up slaves, to sell them somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, and then to come back to Louisiana. During this journey, Jessie endured through many hardships of life at sea and witnessed the inhumanity of the slave trade system but more specifically, most of his relentless crew. Next, when they made it back to Cuba, an American anti-slave trade ship chased after them so they threw all but one slave overboard to get rid of any evidence that they had slaves if they were caught. Jessie and the last remaining slave, Ras, a young boy, hid under decks for a short time. When they were just about at the shore of Mississippi they Shipwrecked and slowly managed to float on a little longer. Next, the storm’s intensity increased, sank the ship, and the only two survivors by then, Jessie and Ras, swam to shore where they met a friendly adult black slave that had run away and built a small hut deep in the forest who fed them and told Jessie a way that he could walk back to his home in New Orleans. After a few days journey, Jessie finally made it back home where he was rejoined with his family.

There are many different qualities that make this book good. For example, it has all the usual properties of any good book; suspense, creativity, a well-structured plot, informative/at least partly educational, excellent voice, a good character-layout, etc. but something special about it is that it stays very true to historical facts and events instead of being nearly entirely fictional. Something that would make this book better is if the dialogue was spread out a little more evenly throughout the book because I sort of felt like many of the chapters were either mostly dialogue or mostly just the protagonist’s views on things/thoughts. The author, Paula Fox, wrote this to inform people/teach that prejudice is very wrong and that, in the end, no good can ever come from it. Another reason why she wrote this was to specifically show how bad racial segregation was during the time of the later slave trades. To understand and enjoy the book, readers need to know an average amount of information about the history of slavery and racial segregation throughout the world because then you can know more about why certain events in the book occurred.

Some similarities between The Slave Dancer and my classic novel from last term, Robinson Crusoe, are that they both involve sea voyages, a shipwreck, diverse characters, an extensive plot, reflections on how characters learned/developed or fought through adversity, etc. More similarities between these books are that they are both multicultural, they both involve survival in different ways, the protagonists face many challenges, and the characters greatly developed or changed. First of all, I really enjoyed the book and would definitely encourage others to read it. I would recommend this book people who like action, adventure, suspense, a very smooth, not fragmented plot, and obviously historical fiction. You don’t really have to, but like I said before, I think if you’d want to get more out of the book and understand it a little better, you’d probably have to know a thing or two about the history of slavery and racial segregation.
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Jul 13, 2011

Linda Lipko rated it

· review of another edition

This 1974 Newbery Medal award winning book is by far the most compelling, graphic and intensely dark Newbery I've read. Having said this, you may wonder why I highly recommend this dark tale full of vivid, violent details.

The answer is simply this: Slavery was abhorrently wrong and this book captures the gruesomeness of the slave trade without stopping to the real temptation of pounding home a truth to the point wherein the reader closes the pages. Never exploiting the power of the evi...moreThis 1974 Newbery Medal award winning book is by far the most compelling, graphic and intensely dark Newbery I've read. Having said this, you may wonder why I highly recommend this dark tale full of vivid, violent details.

The answer is simply this: Slavery was abhorrently wrong and this book captures the gruesomeness of the slave trade without stopping to the real temptation of pounding home a truth to the point wherein the reader closes the pages. Never exploiting the power of the evil, but honestly capturing the horror, Paula Fox did a marvelous job of addressing man's inhumanity to man. In 152 short pages the author accomplished what many writers cannot do with 500 pages of text.

In 1840 Jessie Bollier lives in New Orleans with his hardworking seamstress mother and his lovable sister. Veering off the path when returning from his Aunt's house, he is kidnapped and taken aboard a slave ship. He is a young 13 year old white male who, while aware of the dirty business of slavery, had no idea what was in store for him or the slaves.

Playing the fife during the day to earn extra money to help his mother renders him a target of the nasty traders who capture him and stow him on the ship. His job is to play for the slaves when they are allowed a bit of sunshine on deck. Providing sunshine is not done as a kind deed, rather the precious cargo is forced to dance in order to provide stronger muscle tone when they are sold at the final destination of Cuba. As Jessie witnesses the injustice, his notes become disjointed and shrill and he is beaten if he does not earn his keep.

Jessie witnesses fights, treachery and hostility between ship mates. As the ship travels to Africa and then to Cuba, the author's excellent writing, provides clear, crisp images that anchor the reader while the ship is tempest tossed and hell bent toward finishing their destination The journey becomes darker and deeper as evil resides above the deck and 98 slaves witness terror below.

When Jessie asserts that if the slaves are not treated properly there will not be more trading with the salves all gone, the response of a crew mate is simply stated as "The slaves are never gone!' All of Africa is a bottomless sack of blacks." Thus, with one sentence the author captured the incredible evil misconception that life does not matter...that it does not matter at all!!!!!

Another example of excellent writing are these paragraph:

"For some time after the sun had set, the sky remained the color of rope. The ship lay steady on the glass-lie surface of the water which was pricked, now and then, into small ripples when a seabird struck its surface."

"A few lanterns were strung up to give us light. They made a mystery of the ship -- we floated like a live ember in a great bowl of darkness."

This is anything but a light, easy-breezy YA book. It is nonetheless a part of history that cries to be told with bitter, angry tears of righteous indignation. And, if as the final page is turned, the reader does not come away with the brutality of American slavery, then there is something dramatically wrong with our society.

This is an author I'll be sure to read again.

FIVE big stars!(less)

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Jun 15, 2010

Ashley rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: grade-for-ashley

Fox, Paula. The Slave Dancer. New York: Dell, 1991. Print.
Genre: Realistic Fiction/Multicultural
The Slave Dancer by Paula Fix is a story about a young Caucasian boy who is kidnapped and forced to play his flute. The boy’s flute is used to provide music for the African American salves so they can dance and exercise to while traveling to the United States. This story is set in the time around the civil war where many were faced with the harsh reality of moral choices. The stories main...more

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Oct 24, 2009

Kasha rated it

· review of another edition

This book is a newberry honor book. It is the story of a preteen boy named Jessie who is kidnapped and put on board a slave trade ship. I was not immediately drawn in, but after reading a few chapters, I was very much interesting in knowing what the outcome would be. I like that the story of this complex, ugly piece of history is told through the eyes of a young person. It gives the story naivety and objectivity you can also find in a book like To Kill a Mockingbird. It is a 6.0 on the AR r...more

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Aug 31, 2009

Emily rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: audio, kids-chapter-books, historical-fiction, newbery-winner

Jesse Bollier is a thirteen-year-old boy living in New Orleans in 1840 when slave traders hear him playing his fife on the wharf. They kidnap Jesse and take him on their ship The Moonlight, where he is to play his fife for exercise periods for the slaves so that they will be in good physical condition when they reach the U.S. and can be sold at auction. Jesse is horrified at the treatment of the slaves and the behaviors of the ship’s crew. He is especially aware of a young boy about his own a...more

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Sep 20, 2011

Sara rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, young-adult

The Slave Dancer is a story about a young 13 year old boy, Jessie, who lives in New Orleans during the slave trade era. Jessie is kidnapped and brought to a slave ship heading to Africa. His job is to play music for the slaves so that they will dance. This measure was taken to help them slow the process of muscle deterioration while in severely cramped quarters on board.

The Slave Dancer is one of those books that definitely brings truth to the phrase, "Don't judge a book by it's ...more

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Dec 26, 2011

Torgy Torgensen rated it

· review of another edition

The Slave Dancer
By: Tyler Torgensen
The Slave Dancer was a very interesting book. It tries to capture the feeling of what slavery was like back in the 1800's and it did it so good that it earned a Newberry Medal Award for it. The writer and publishing company of this book took a risk by publishing a book about slavery because it could be banned from certain countries or it cou...more The Slave Dancer
By: Tyler Torgensen
The Slave Dancer was a very interesting book. It tries to capture the feeling of what slavery was like back in the 1800's and it did it so good that it earned a Newberry Medal Award for it. The writer and publishing company of this book took a risk by publishing a book about slavery because it could be banned from certain countries or it could start controversial stuff because slavery is a touchy subject to talk about. The good news is that this book was mostly praised and is a recognized book in both of the kids and adults genres. It is a very depressing story but it tells you how it was back then and how cruel humans can be to other humans.

"When (he) passed a black man, (he) often turned to look at him, trying to see in his walk, the man he had once been”. The book is about a 13 year old boy named Jessie Bollier who lives with his widowed mom and his sister, and when Jessie has to go get a dress from his aunt he is kidnapped and taken to a ship. He wakes up and notices that it is a slave ship and he can play the flute so they want him to play the fife for when the slaves get their “exercise”. The British will board the ship they have called the “Moonlight” and take all their goods and all their slaves. I think the authors theme was to do what’s right and to think what YOU want to think and no one to help you.

The book is good because of the thought and detail the author puts into the book, like how he plays the fife to make the slaves “exercise” less boring. She also did good on the setting of the novel because of how it’s on a slave ship and most of the crew doesn’t really care for them. The book would be better if she made it a little bit longer because I had just started to really get into it and then it just suddenly ended. I think she wrote it to educate us on how bad it would be to be a crew member, a slave, or even someone who takes care of the ship because of the smell of the slaves dead bodies. The audience needs to know that you kind of have to put yourself in Jessie’s shoes to actually understand what he is seeing and hearing.

This book isn’t similar at all to my last book White Fang but there are many differences. Some of the differences are that the main character isn’t a wolf, it’s a human, but that probably isn't the biggest one. It also doesn’t take place in the jungle, it takes place on a ship. White Fang was more of an ambitious character and Jessie doesn’t have a choice to be on that ship so he definitely is not as ambitious. It’s also in different time periods, White Fang is in the late 1900’s and The Slave Dancer is in the mid 1800’s.

I would for sure recommend this book to people who like shorter stories. The book has a great sense of detail and gets very interesting in the end. The book definitely deserves a Newberry Medal for educating people about slavery and how cruel it was. It also teaches people to be grateful because what if this happened to you in real life? I would give this book a 8 on a 1-10 scale because of all the things a mentioned and 2 points off for not being long enough.
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Feb 25, 2011

Renate rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: kid-lit, fiction

I'm really getting to be a fan of Paula Fox - this is the second of her novels that I've read in the last month or so. The other, "Desperate Characters", was aimed at adults, and this one is geared primarily towards young adolescents. The story takes place in 1840 and the narrator is a sympathetically portrayed 13-year-old New Orleans boy called Jessie, who's kidnapped from the docks and forced to work on a slave ship, hauling buckets of waste and playing the fife while the captive Afr...more

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Jan 24, 2011

Jill rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: mature 13+

Shelves: newbery-medal

Of all the Newbery's I've read so far I have to say this was the most disturbing and emotionally difficult to read. Rightly so considering the subject matter. It is a powerful portrayal of the cruelty on the part of a ship captain and the pain and suffering the captives, mainly, but also the crew had to endure.

"You'll see some bad things, but if you didn't see them, they'd still be happening so you might as well."

"As I sat there on the narrow little bench,...moreOf all the Newbery's I've read so far I have to say this was the most disturbing and emotionally difficult to read. Rightly so considering the subject matter. It is a powerful portrayal of the cruelty on the part of a ship captain and the pain and suffering the captives, mainly, but also the crew had to endure.

"You'll see some bad things, but if you didn't see them, they'd still be happening so you might as well."

"As I sat there on the narrow little bench, breathing in the close clay-like smell of lentils, and drinking tea from Purvis' bowl, I felt almost happy. When I remembered the wretchedness of my situation, I wondered if there was something about a ship that makes men glide from one state of mind to another as effortlessly as the ship cuts through water."

"...because of a change of wind, I caught a powerful whiff of that ugly smell mixed with something else. I sniffed, thinking to myself what a comical human habit it was--how often I'd observed someone who, offended by an odor and proclaiming loudly how awful it was, continued to sniff away as though, in fact, he was smelling a rose."

"Being on a ship and eating from its stores was like a man burning down his house to keep warm."

"We didn't hear the splash she must have made when she hit the water, but then we were making speed before a fair breeze. 'She had the fever,' Stout said to me as he passed, 'and was dying and would have infected the rest of them.' He was not trying to excuse himself. No, it was only his usual trick. He knew I thought he was evil but he liked to suggest that beneath that I held another opinion of him, that, in fact, I admired him. It was a complicated insult."

"I felt an extraordinary sad tranquility, that same sad and empty calm the sea had on certain cool mornings when you knew it would look the same if you weren't there to see it."

"If we're caught with some of what we've got on this ship, we might just as well be caught with the slaves themselves. I know of masters who've burned their ships once they've unshipped their cargo--just to make sure there was no trace left of what they'd been doing. But Cawthorne's so greedy--he's like a man choking on one chicken bone while he's grabbing for another."

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Apr 05, 2010

Jamie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 8th-grade-ir-books-sadelle

This book is about a boy named Jesse who lived during the 1840's. He played the fife, and one day, white men who sold slaves kidnapped him and put him on a ship. He was to play the fife for the dance sessions of the slaves on the ship in order to keep them fit and ready for sale. While staying on the ship, Jesse notices the cruelty the slaves face. He doesn't like it at all.
I can connect this book to the history of America and the world. This book taught me how cruel people coul...more

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Dec 11, 2008

Amy rated it

· review of another edition

Great book, but a tough read. After I read Nightjohn I realized I hadn't read much about the slave trade. I don't know that I can emotionally handle much more after this book, though. It's about a 13-year-old boy who's kidnapped from New Orleans and forced into service on a slaving ship. His main job is to play the fife when the slaves are taken up from the ship's hold for exercise. It's a good, well-written story with interesting characters. It touches on the politics and economics of the slave...more

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Sep 13, 2010

Jane Meyer rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: homeschool-stuff-for-7-8-grade, middlegrade

A dramatic story of a young boy who is captured and made to play his fife for slaves on an American slaving ship. The story is well told, and the subject matter is not concealed or dumbed down for young readers. The plot moves quickly and, thankfully, it's not a terribly long read. Who wants to spend hours and hours amidst the misery of brutes and batterers?

I read this aloud with my daughter as we study early American history. It gave a very fair portrayal of the life that this young ...more

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Oct 28, 2011

Jill rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 16-30

The Slave Dancer is of a young 13-year-old boy, Jessie, who is kidnapped while living in New Orleans. He arrives on a slave ship where is works killing rats, but is mostly there to play music for the slaves to dance. The dancing keeps the slaves healthier so they will still be alive when they are sold. Jessie witnesses the horrors of the slave trade. In the end, he and one slave boy become friends and are the only two to survive a shipwreck.

I liked this book somewhat. I think if I was ...more

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Apr 21, 2011

Alison Lake rated it

· review of another edition

This was a challenging book to read because it's brutally honest about the horrors of the slave trade. It's actually amazing to me that it's considered a "young adult" book because it's incredibly sad at times and very disturbing. It's so hard to comprehend the terror slaves felt when they were taken from their country and brought to another to live lives of misery. The story is from the perspective of a young boy from New Orleans who is kidnapped and forced to play music on a slave...more

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Sep 29, 2009

Colin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, childhoodfaves, fiction

I specifically remember buying this book at the Tattered Cover in Denver with my allowance after our teacher read it aloud to us in 5th grade. It wasn't as good as I remembered, but not as fucked up as I thought it might be either, what with the track record of Newberry winners by white people about people of color such as Sign of the Beaver or Island of the Blue Dolphins. It was brutally realistic up to a point, but then trailed off into unrealistic-land, with our main character conveniently ...more

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Jul 24, 2009

Debbie (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it

· review of another edition

Jessie Bollier is kidnapped, taken from his mother and sister, and left stranded aboard a slave ship, on its way to Africa to acquire a boatload of slave cargo. He has been taken in order to play the fife on the ship, to play the fife for the slaves, to entice them to dance, to keep the slaves fit while incarcerated on the ship.

This was a grueling tale to read. Jessie is in misery. His fellow members of the crew are in misery. The slaves are in misery. There can be no happy stories ...more

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Oct 24, 2010

Jennifer rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: youth-ya, historical-fiction

Although painful reading at times, this book is the beautifully written story of a 12 year old boy who is kidnapped by slavers and forced to play his fife to keep the slaves dancing on the long journey back from Africa. The story begins in New Orleans, takes us to Africa and back to New Orleans via Cuba and a shipwreck. I was impressed by a couple of things, one, that children are without prejudice unless taught it, that good people will remain good even in the worst circumstances and frie...more

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Oct 16, 2009

Ms Anderson rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: formystudents, 2009-10-oct

This book is one of the few I've read in awhile that actually feels like literature. It reminded me a lot of Conrad's Heart of Darkness just in the lush descriptions, tone, and all of the symbolism running rampant beneath the words themselves. Beautifully written, and definitely deserving on its Newbery.

I'm still wondering how often it's been challenged, though...the language is definitely appropriate for the setting and time period, but I could see it being hard to use in a classro...more

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Oct 03, 2010

Abigail Hilton rated it

· review of another edition

This book is everything a Newberry book should be - beautifully written, lyrical, and engrossing. It is also absolutely hair-raising. This is a story about slave ships for children. It is told very simply. You get a sense of the shock and numbness experienced by the protagonist, who is kidnapped to play his fife to the slaves and make them dance in order to make them exercise. The complexity of his feelings about the sailors and the slaves seems very real. The prose is stark, not over-written, b...more

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Oct 07, 2010

Joann rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, newberry-winners, young-adult

I did not particularly enjoy this book. It was negative and didn't come across to me as having a positive message. As I read I felt that the Newberry award was given to this work not because of its quality of content, but more because of the political relevance of the subject at the time of publication. It definately was not the quality of other Newberry winners. While I have no objections to my children reading it when they are mature enough, it will not be one that I recommend or encourage...more

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Jul 12, 2011

Grace rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: school, historical-fiction, reviewed-on-lands-away

I couldn't get much of a grip on the main character, Jessie, until the part called "The Spaniard.” It clicked when someone asked him how he felt about slavery and he responded, "I don't know." I'm not entirely sure why, but suddenly his character clicked. Maybe it's because he didn't have a perfect answer, like he definitely would've in any other story. His character had very human flaws. But I feel like Fox didn’t add as much of Jessie’s emotions and thoughts as she could’ve at p...more

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Jan 06, 2012

Katelyn rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I was about eleven when I first read The Slave Dancer, which was around the same time that I was reading typical children's adventure stories and Goosebumps ...et cetera. So, as you can assume, this book had a tremendous impact on my eleven-year-old self. It was the first to open my eyes to a whole other world of writing. The Slave Dancer was incredibly chilling. I remember how I could see and feel the horrors that Paula Fox so mindfully brought to life, and it completely blew me away. I grabbed...more

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Sep 11, 2009

Theresa Vencill rated it

· review of another edition

This book was very good but it was a little short. I liked the way the author portrayed the characteres, but it ended kind of abruptly. This book is about a black fife player who is stolen and put aboard a slave ship as the crew. He meets all of the crew members and he desperatly triese to get off. This book invovles a thirteen year old fife player, drunken sailors, a cruel mate and an evil captian and hundreds of slaves. This book does not have alot of detail but has a very good storyline and i...more

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Jul 24, 2010

Lisa rated it

· review of another edition

We listened to this book on our drive from Utah to Colorado. My 13 year old son asked the lady at the bookstore for a book that doesn't end the same as all the other books he's read. He's tired of all the happily ever after books. She recommended this one. It was definately not a happy book.... but it taught us about the treatment of slaves. Horrible horrible history. But it made us grateful for our life's circumstances.

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Dec 04, 2011

Stephanie Allen rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: chapter-book, book-awards, grief, historical-fiction

Jessie is a thirteen year old boy who has been stolen and put upon a slave ship. He is to play his fife to give the slaves "exercise." He see terrible things done not only yo the slaves but to the crew members as well. He tries to stay strong in the hopes of making it back home to his mother and sister. When an American ship spots their ship, he and Ras, an African boy he had befriended, must work together to survive.

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Feb 05, 2011

Cheryl rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, historical-fiction, multicultural, caldecott-medal, newberry-award

I listened to this book on tape. It pulled me right in with adventure, a boy is abducted to serve on a ship... illegally transporting slaves. Life is difficult enough being taken from his mother and sister, serving an evil captain, learning who (if anyone) can be trusted.

But then they load on slaves. This part is really hard to take. I would say you'd need a very mature middle grade reader, and even a young adult who's ready to hear about brutality and cruelty. I was in a car listenin...more

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Nov 03, 2010

Melinda rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: newbery-award

This book held nothing back. From the vivid descriptions of the horrific conditions aboard the salve ships, the kidnapping of Jessie and the cruel antics of the fellow crew members awhile on the ship, the story appeared very realistic.
I think that this book would be a difficult read because of the subject matter for some young readers, but it would definitely enhance a unit on the slave trade.

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Jul 22, 2009

Kathy added it · review of another edition

Shelves: summer-ir-09

this bokk is amazing!!! this book is about a boy named jessie who is thirteen and is from new orleans and he is thrown onto a ship.

he is put to be a slave but the catch is the slaves have to dance to keep their muscles strong. jessie hates that he has to dance everyday to build his strength

but jessie doesnt relize horrible until something really bad happens. you will have to read the book to find out.

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About Paula Fox

Paula Fox is an American author of novels for adults and children and two memoirs. Her novel The Slave Dancer (1973) received the Newbery Medal in 1974; and in 1978, she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. More recently, A Portrait of Ivan won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 2008.

A teenage marriage produced a daughter, Linda, in 1944. However, given the tumultuous rela...more

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The Slave Dancer

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