Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 31, 2008

Julie rated it:

I laughed and cried. Elijah became flesh and blood to me, and of course, I learned a little more about slavery and what it means to be free. It took a page or two for me to get accustomed to the dialect. I kept waiting for the library copy to come in, but went ahead and bought it. It's one worth owning.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2008

Josephine rated it:

It's going to be hard for me to write about this book without resorting to blatant gushing, but I'll do my best. Elijah of Buxton is one of those books that kept popping up on all the lists this year. When it won both the Newbery Honor and the Coretta Scott King Award, I thought I'd better pick it up and give it a shot.

Now I had read Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy when it won the Newbery Medal in 2000, and I liked it quite a bit, but I have to admit I wasn't completely blown More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 07, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

Despite that I liked Curtis’s lively, colorful, convincing portrayal of everyday life in Buxton, I felt that Elijah of Buxton had a slow start. However, towards the middle of the novel, when Curtis began weaving individual Buxton residents escape and slave stories into Elijah’s daily experiences, I slowly came to love the book. As I was reading the novel on a CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) bus, I found myself tearing up, suddenly struck by what Elijah and his mother would call being “fra-gile More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 17, 2008

Kyle rated it:

The boys picked to read Elijah of Buxton for this month’s discussion. The librarian asked me how I tricked them into reading an historical novel. I told her it was my wit and good looks. I think it has more to do with the cover. Anyhow, some have loved it, and some have struggled. Third graders are so used to being told to make sure words are spelled correctly that when they read a novel with dialect that is different it takes them out of their comfort zone.

On Friday during Ind More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2010

L-Melissa rated it:

This story takes place in the early 1860's just before the Civil War. Elijah is the main character and the narrator of the story. He was the first person born in the Buxton, Ontario settlement where runaway slaves would hide; therefore, he was not considered a slave/runaway slave. He is a very gullible 11 year old and consistently tries to prove that he is becoming a man despite his silliness and frequent mistakes. He is constantly called "fragile" by his mother and other people in More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 09, 2010

Dena rated it:

Reading Level: Middle school and older
Elijah is an eleven year old boy - the first child born into freedom in Buxton Canada. Buxton is a settlement of former escaped slaves situated just over the border from Detroit. It is 1860 and Elijah finds himself helping a man . . . a former slave who gives all his money to the dishonest preacher who promises to take the money to get the man's slave family safely back to Buxton. When the preacher steals the money, Elijah goes after him into slave More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 09, 2010

L-Crystal rated it:

Elijah of Buxton is recommended for children in grades 6-8. I read this book in the audio book format, which was an Odyssey Award Honor book in 2009. This book is focused around Elijah Buxton, the first child born into freedom in Buxton, a settlement in Canada of runaway slaves. He is best known for his ability to throw rocks. He is also known to be “fragile”, but that changes when he goes on journey to America to find a thief who steels money from a friend who is trying to save money to buy his More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 11, 2010

Bob rated it:

Curtis, in Newberry-Award winning style, tells the story of a young boy growing up in the (historically real) all-black community of Buxton, Ontario, Canada, in 1859. The book is completely absorbing, and one forgets immediately that this is a book for young adults or grade schoolers. Curtis writes with such a clarity of purpose and faithfulness to his story that there's no question of whether the book is merely edifying.

Elijah, the first boy born in the community, is 11 when this More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 21, 2008

Sunny rated it:

I wish I had a book club to discuss this book with. Spencer, I think, has opted not to read this one. Darn. So, if anyone chooses to read this book I'd love to talk about it with you!

The whole first part of the book wasn't very interesting. I really had no desire to keep reading it. I could've put it down and forgotten all about it - except that I kept thinking, "This won the NEWBERRY AWARD! Come on! This has to get good at some point!" Finally, towards the end it More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 03, 2008

babyhippoface rated it:

Okay, I'm sold. It took me months to finally getting around to reading this one, and that's too bad, because I could have been recommending it all this time. It's fantastic.

Elijah Freeman was the first child born free in the Buxton settlement of Canada. His life is made up of family, school, chores, and fishing, and although he has heard stories about life in captivity from the former slaves around him, he leads a very different life. When an unscrupulous, self-proclaimed preacher ma More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 28, 2007

Eugenia marked it as to-read

Booklist review: *Starred Review* After his mother rebukes him for screaming that hoop snakes have invaded Buxton, gullible 11-year-old Elijah confesses to readers that "there ain't nothing in the world she wants more than for me to quit being so doggone fra-gile." Inexperienced and prone to mistakes, yet kind, courageous, and understanding, Elijah has the distinction of being the first child born in the Buxton Settlement, which was founded in Ontario in 1849 as a haven for former slav More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 09, 2010

Camille rated it:

Loved it! The setting of this sweet, hope-filled story is the three-mile by six-mile plot of land purchased in southern Ontario to be the home of freed and escaped African-American slaves. It was a refuge where they could truly experience freedom. The story is told in the point of view of an almost 12-year-old boy who was the first free child born in Buxton. He has always lived in this beautiful, peaceful settlement and has never known the horrors his parents and elders experienced as slaves. Be More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 07, 2008

Jodysegal rated it:

Elijah is the first freeborn child in Buxton, Canada, a small community just across the border from Michigan which was settled by escaped and freed slaves from the United States. To eleven year old Elijah, whose story this is, that means bragging rights over Emma, the second freeborn child. But over the course of this powerful and very moving story, freedom comes to mean something entirely different to Elijah.

Kirkus: "Readers, young and old, will finish and say, 'This is one o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 15, 2008

Jessica rated it:

***children's book--This is a fantastic book and a surprise sobbing end. I cried my eyes out.

It is a historical fictional novel taking place in about 1860 during slaving times. It's about a Canadian settlement of slaves that made it to freedom. It really opened my eyes to the tragedy of the cause. It is graphic at the end of the book, and has a startling, but uplifting ending. It leaves you with the message there can always be something better--if not for you, then your children More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 09, 2010

(NS) Maria rated it:

This story is about a boy name Elijah who is eleven years old who lives in Buxton, Canada. He is the first child to be born free and be famous for it. Many people think he is "afraid" of snakes and talks a lot. Things begin to change for Elijah when a former slave steals money from his friend. He begins to take a journey to catch the person and things begin to happen!

I didn't enjoy hearing this story. After listening to this story in the car, I got very tired. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 01, 2009

Books written by POC added it

I don't know how much mainstream buzz this book has gotten outside of Canada, but I certainly hope people have heard of it, given that it's the winner of the Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor Medal, and has been recognised by the CLA and ALA. It tells the story of a fictional first free-born boy in Buxton (a real community of escaped slaves in Canada West) named Elijah, his life in the community, and what happens when a con artist steals money a More...

0 comments like

Mar 25, 2009

Julie rated it:

This is a wonderful book. I really enjoyed reading it. The author does a fabulous job capturing an 11 yr. old boy's worldview, language and thinking process. Elijah's story made me laugh and cry, and it kept me turning the pages as the plot speeds up near the book's end. I also like the fact that we see Elijah learning and growing as the book proceeds, but this isn't dealt with in a preachy, heavy-handed way. Adult readers will see things more quickly than the narrator, but children and you More...

0 comments like

Feb 28, 2009

Lois rated it:

I'm so glad I read this. and so glad that Christopher Paul Curtis wrote another novel I enjoyed reading, as I did his "the Watsons go to Birmingham" and "Bud, Not Buddy," I firmly did not like his "Bucking the Sarge." Curtis at his best writes stories to make you laugh, make you cry, make you want to read them again. First what I didn't care for in "Elijah of Buxton:" I find it harder to read and sometimes distracting when a book is written in a dialec More...

0 comments like

Dec 03, 2008

Danielleboyd rated it:

This is a multi-award-winning book. It is a Newberry Honor Book, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, an ALA Notable Book, among other prestigious awards. It is perfect for 6th graders, but can be read from 5-8 grade. Even older students may enjoy it, but they might find it boring.
The book is told from Elijah's point of view, and the reader gets to know him immediately. Elijah has a distinct voice and dialect. I also think student More...

0 comments like

Dec 09, 2011

Amy added it

1. Historical Fiction
2. Being born a free boy in Canada, Elijah embarks on an adventure of a lifetime. One which could cost his life. He journeys to find the man who stole money from a friend. This results in him entering to America where he could not be seen as a free man. Will he ever get home.
3. a: the biggest element of this story is your ability to see how proud the people in the town are about having Elijah (the first boy born a free man). The author allows you to enter int More...

1 comment like

Oct 04, 2011

Mari rated it:

A wonderful book based on the historical 1849 Buxton Settlement, in Ontario, Canada where African-American slaves could live free, thanks to the mission of the Elgin Settlement founded by Reverend William King. From the color cover of Elijah smiling, the book invites you to read it. The first person narrator is young Elijah, whose curious nature and zeal for life makes a delightful storyteller. The author, Christopher Paul Curtis, uses dialect typical of the freed slaves, which the reader become More...

0 comments like

Aug 01, 2011

Alison rated it:

Twelve-year-old Elijah’s mother wishes he would quit being “so doggone frag-ile,” but Elijah can’t help it. Sure, most of the adults in the Buxton Settlement in Ontario, Canada are escaped slaves used to a life of hardship, but Elijah is the first free-born member of the community. He doesn’t know what real suffering is like. He wants to grow-up less “frag-ile,” but his childhood is filled with pranks, simple chores, and fishing—until an act of cruelty lands one of Elijah’s friends in terrible t More...

0 comments like

May 01, 2011

Maureen rated it:

Elijah Freeman is the first free-born child in the settlement of Buxton, Canada. He had never understood what slavery really was, or the suffering that his parents and other adults in the settlement went through, in order to be free. Mr. Leroy, who Elijah admires and trusts, has been saving money for a long time, so he can free his wife and children, who are still living in the States. But once he finally has enough to buy his family from slavery, a thief steals all of his money. Elijah accompan More...

0 comments like

Jan 29, 2011

Angie rated it:

This book starts out very slow and is a little hard to get into. I think it is a good story and well told, but it does drag. It is a story that school children should read because it introduces them to freed slaves, but gives a glimpse of what life was like for those individuals. Just because they are now free does not mean that the scars of slavery have disappeared. I think I liked the message of the book much more than I liked the reading of the book.

I had problems believing the extr More...

0 comments like

Dec 02, 2010

Janessa rated it:

Elijah Freeman is the first child born free in the Buxton Settlement in Canada West. He might be a bit fra-gile, and prefers meandering donkeys to quick-paced horses, but he is also the best rock chunker you’ll ever meet, and the truest friend.

Curtis does such an exceptional job introducing the reader to Elijah and showing us his life and the things he cares about, that this sincere, playful, endearing, almost-growed eleven year old felt absolutely real to me by the time I finished More...

0 comments like

Nov 30, 2010

Kathie rated it:

In the community of Buxton, in Canada reside both freed and runaway slaves. 11 year old Elijah was the first free child born there and he is considered fragile by some. But he proves himself to be less than fragile when he takes it upon himself to help when a slick preacher steals money meant to purchase a slave family and bring them to freedom in Canada.

Written in first person, this lively, entertaining tale of a young boy is both comical and, at times, heart-wrenching. More...

0 comments like

Sep 27, 2010

Renee rated it:

Elijah was the first free-born resident of a settlement in Canada set up for people fleeing the United States and slavery. Although he has not experienced slavery himself, he can see the results in scars and behaviors of other residents, and stories told also. Elijah has his own harrowing experience with a thief and slave traders outside of Buxton.
Although I read this to 3rd grade students and they loved and cried with the book, it is necessary to be aware that some of the story is certa More...

0 comments like

Apr 06, 2010

Teeny rated it:

Summary: Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. He's best known in his hometown as the boy who made a memorable impression on Frederick Douglass. But things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief, and he discovers firsthan More...

0 comments like

Feb 02, 2010

Annette rated it:

I was already a Curtis fan before I read Elijah of Buxton. I was totally expecting to love it and I do! I have read Bud, Not Buddy several times and I absolutely love it! I have also read and enjoyed The Watson's Go to Birmingham - 1963. I really like Curtis's style of writing, it is very kid friendly. He has this talent of taking a very serious subject (like slavery) and writing a children's book about it that is not depressing. I think his sense of humor is what makes this possible.

More...

0 comments like

Jan 18, 2010

Cindy rated it:

Christopher Paul Curtis and I have an interesting relationship...no, I don't know him personally, but I have learned something about him as I've read his books. Bottom line...I have to remind myself to keep plugging away when I read his stories, because they always start out too slow and disjointed for my tastes. Fortunately, since I have read him a bit, I understand that if I soldier on, I will be rewarded by a sweet, sensitive and heart-warming conclusion! Elijah of Buxton is a perfect exam More...

0 comments like

reviews