My Name is Not Friday in Mock Printz 2026

Jan 09, 2017 Deborah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: boy-book, adventure, middle-grade, religion, civil-rights, racism, african-american-history, social-justice, honesty, diversity

I loved this book! I like the cover of the version I read better than the one featured above, though.

Samuel is abducted from an orphanage sometime during the Civil War. Time and place are intentionally vague, though the author based scenes and dialogues on primary source documents. Samuel and every character in the novel resonate with authenticity. The story follows Samuel as he is betrayed and enslaved and sold to a widow and son with a struggling slave labor camp of cotton. If I have one quib ...more

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Aug 09, 2016 Barbara rated it really liked it

Shelves: social-studies, alcohol, names, crime, death, poverty, facing-fears, music, animals, teachers

Samuel and his mischievous younger brother Joshua are free blacks living in an orphanage run by Father Mosely. Samuel is obedient and good-hearted and is a firm believer in the religious lessons taught at the orphanage. When his brother goes too far in his actions, leaving a turd on the altar, Samuel takes the blame. But he has no idea how cruel the punishment will be. Father Mosely sells him to a slave trader who takes him South to the auction block where he is purchased and set to work in the Samuel and his mischievous younger brother Joshua are free blacks living in an orphanage run by Father Mosely. Samuel is obedient and good-hearted and is a firm believer in the religious lessons taught at the orphanage. When his brother goes too far in his actions, leaving a turd on the altar, Samuel takes the blame. But he has no idea how cruel the punishment will be. Father Mosely sells him to a slave trader who takes him South to the auction block where he is purchased and set to work in the fields. The plantation owner is fighting for the Confederates despite his expressed desire to free his slaves and pay them for their hard work, and Samuel--now named Friday by the man who sold him--is befriended by his son, Gerald, who teaches him how to read. But Samuel already knows how to read and pretends to be learning from Gerald so that he can use the primers Gerald is using to teach the other slaves. Throughout the book, Samuel never forgets his brother and tries to be good so that God will protect the boy. Terrible things happen as the war comes closer to the plantation, and eventually Samuel is able to flee. While he encounters cruelty and endures harsh conditions, he also finds kindness, compassion, and some old friends. I especially enjoyed how determined he was to get back to his brother and how he worked so hard to give the gift of literacy to the other slaves. The characters are interestingly complex, and sometimes it's hard to understand their motivations; for instance, Mrs. Allen whips a slave who left the plantation more than 150 times and then comes out to his cabin and covers his wounds with ointment. Her actions and those of Gerald gave me pause and made me wonder how someone sympathetic to the human rights of slavery could survive in an area dependent on slave labor for economic survival. Since the story was written by an author from England, it's interesting to have his perspective on the Civil War. Although it took me a while to be drawn into the story, once I had reached the thirtieth page, I was hooked and raced through it, hoping that somehow there would be a happy ending of a sort. ...more

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Apr 23, 2017 Jen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, poc_main_character, friendship, slavery, audiobook

This story was long and sad. I was actually surprised at how far the author followed the main character and expected it to end long before some of the final plot points were introduced. Definitely a book that is interesting and funny and can help produce empathy. lots of questions about morals/ethics here. Is something that's bad that is ultimately for the greater good ok to do? etc. ...more

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Oct 27, 2016 Holly rated it it was ok

Shelves: tween-teens-middle-schoolers, historical-fiction, wartime-stories, multicultural-america

I have so many issues with this book, but it was well-written on the sentence level... So 2 stars.

I would not recommend this to anyone; certainly not the children for whom it was published. Reader beware.

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