Copper Sun
by Sharon M. Draper

    COPPER SUN by Sharon M. Draper
    Category:  Historical
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  1/3/06
    Publisher:  Atheneum
    Reviewed by:  Cana Rensberger
    Rating:  5 Stars


    I have been a fan of Sharon M. Draper for some time. She is a master at writing realistic fiction. COPPER SUN
    is her first historical fiction and it is amazing -- as well as frighteningly authentic.

    This book follows the trials and tribulations of Amari, a fifteen-year-old African maiden. After witnessing the
    slaughter of both the old and young in her African village, including her parents and her young brother, she is
    chained, by feet, hands, and neck, lined up, and herded miles on foot to the ocean by pale skinned visitors with
    fire sticks. She watches her fellow Africans suffer incomprehensible humiliation and death at the hands of their
    captors as they are shipped like animal cargo across the ocean. The life that awaits her is nothing like she could
    have ever imagined.

    Amari must adapt to life as a purchased slave on a rice plantation, a life that includes atrocities committed upon
    her by her white owners. She meets Polly, an indentured servant who has dreams of making it to the big house
    and being a fine lady of standing. Instead, Polly lives in the slave quarters and finds she’s given the chore of
    civilizing Amari, now called Myna, and teaching her enough English to work. After witnessing murder, the two
    girls find themselves thrown together in a desperate run for freedom.

    This is not just another book about slavery. This is a book about something real and tangible. Ms. Draper’s
    writing is so vivid that you can smell the rank odors beneath ship. You can feel the pain of being lashed with a
    whip. Your throat will constrict at the heart-wrenching pain of a mother and child being forced apart. You will
    also celebrate the strength and spirit of Amari and those she inspires.

    COPPER SUN won the Coretta Scott King Award. This is a book I will make sure goes on my classroom
    shelves. I give COPPER SUN a gold star!